*lEH-/*lEH-i̯e/o-

Considering the Luwian medio-passive verb laḫḫi- ‘to travel, campaign’ and Hitt. laḫḫiye/a-^(mi) (and laḫḫiyā(i)-^(mi) ‘id.’) as well as the action noun of Hitt. lāḫḫ(a)- ‘id.’ ‘military campaign’ and Lyc. B laxa- c. ‘id.’, one must reconstruct both a root verb built beside a deradical verb in *-i̯e/o-, i.e. PAnat. *lEH-/*lEH-i̯e/o- ‘to travel’. Information regarding their more exact type of stem formation in respect to their ablauting paradigm is hindered by the lack of attestations. Differently, Melchert 2012c:178 suggests that the formation in *-i̯e/o-, i.e. *lEH-i̯e/o-, is a denominal formation derived from the action noun lāḫḫ(a)- c. This is contradicted by the reconstruction of the action noun as one in *-eh₂- (see under Lyc. B laxa-), for which we would expect the denominative in Hittite to belong to verbs in -ā(i)-^(mi) (< *-eh₂-i̯e/o-) and in Luwian to verbs in -ā(i)-^(di).For a possible Lydian cognate in Greek Transmission, i.e. λαίλας, see HEG L-M:8f. with further literature.

[D.S.]

There is no agreement on the meaning of the PIE roots *leh₂- and *leh₂u̯-. The former is set up with a nominal meaning ‘± military action’ in EIEC:31 on the basis of Hitt. lāḫḫ(a)- c. ‘military campaign; journey, trip, voyage’ and Gk. λᾱός m. ‘men, soldiers, soldiery; people’. The latter, however, might go back to pre-PGk. *leh₂-u̯-ó- and can therefore also be attributed to a PIE root *leh₂u̯-, which, according to IEW:655 s.v. lāu- means “erbeuten, genießen”, i.e. ‘to gain booty, enjoy’. Others tend to reconstruct a nominal root with a meaning ‘benefit, prize’ (EIEC:484 s.v. *lau-), ‘gain, profit’ (Watkins 2000a:47 s.v. lau-) vel sim. In EDLIL:350, it is considered that “[t]he original meaning of *leh₂- could have been ‘to fight’, that of *leh₂u- ‘to acquire by fighting’. Going one step further, I would propose a common meaning ‘to gain booty’ for both PIE *leh₂- and *leh₂u̯-. Semantically, the words formed to *leh₂- can be well explained from a root meaning ‘to gain booty’: Thus, Hitt. lāḫḫ(a)- ‘military campaign’ might have originally meant ‘foray’ (Germ. ‘Beutezug’). I would therefore reconstruct a PIE root *leh₂(u̯)- ‘to gain booty’.

For Anatolian, the reconstruction of a root noun PAnat. *ló/éH- ‘(military) campaign’ < PIE *ló/éh₂- is most economical. It explains both Hitt. lāḫḫ- (or thematized lāḫḫa-) and Lyc. laxa- (with secondary transfer to the stems in -a- < *-eh₂-). The Anatolian root noun can be derived from PIE *leh₂- ‘to gain booty’. Beside *leh₂- there was an extended root form *leh₂u̯- with the same meaning. For similar root extensions, cf., e.g., PIE *deh₃- ‘to give’ (LIV²:105f.) : *deh₃u̯- ‘id.’ (LIV²:107) or *melh₂- ‘to grind’ (LIV²:432f.) : *melh₂u̯- ‘id.’ (LIV²:433). The extended root *leh₂u̯- ‘to gain booty’ was the basis of several formations, including pres. *leh₂u-i̯e/o- (Gk. ἀπο-λαύω ‘to have enjoyment of sth., have the benefit of sth.’) and nominal stems such as *leh₂u-no- ‘booty’ (> PGerm. *lau̯na- ‘reward, recompense’ > Goth. laun, OHG lōn, etc.), *leh₂u̯-ó- ‘gaining booty’ (whence substantivized Gk. λᾱ[ϝ]ός m. ‘men, soldiers’), etc.

[T.S.]

Gk. ἀπο-λαύω ‘to have enjoyment of sth., have the benefit of sth.’;Cf., e.g., IEW:655, GEW I:123f. λᾱός m.: in Il., it “usu. means men, i.e. soldiers, both of the whole army and smaller divisions” (LSJ s.v.); in Od., “λαοί, more rarely λαός, almost always means men or people” (LSJ s.v.)Cf., e.g., GEW II:83f., EDHIL:510f.

Lat. lucrum n. ‘material gain, profit’ (Plaut.+)Cf., e.g., IEW:655, EDLIL:349f. with further lit.

OIr. lúag, lóg ‘reward, prize’, OIr. folud ‘substance, material, property, equivalent, reason, cause’, MW golud ‘riches’, etc.;Cf., e.g., IEW:655, EDPC:397f. OIr. láech, llóech m. (o-st.) ‘warrior’Cf., e.g., EDHIL:510f., EDPC:234f.

Goth. laun n. ‘reward, recompense’, ON laun n. pl. ‘id.’, OHG lōn n./m. ‘id.’, etc.Cf., e.g., IEW:655, EDPG:329 s.v. *launa-.