The Greek evidence for an alleged PIE *sekh2

This paper argues that several well-established Proto-Indo-European roots referring to the semantic field of ‘cutting’ (*sekhx-, *sḱheh₂-, *sḱheid-, *skel-, *sker-, and *skheh₂-) and exhibiting evident phonetic affinities can all be traced back to a single PIE form *sekh₂-. Although their similarity has long been acknowledged (e.g., Lubotsky 2001: 34), these forms are treated as distinct in LIV² and have generally been considered separate in the proto-language. Many of them are also significant for the reconstruction of certain morphological elements, such as heteroclitic r/n-stems and possible derivatives based on sigmatic aorist stems. Nevertheless, their possible connection has not been systematically analyzed. The present study identifies Greek, which preserves a high number of archaic derivatives, as the key to reconciling all these forms. More specifically, it is argued that Hittite šakkar (and related IndoEuropean forms) may be deverbative, ultimately deriving from the 3rd person plural perfect *sekh₂-er (< *skh₂-[e]r) of šākk-i. This hypothesis also accounts for the vocalism of the 2nd person plural šakteni. Furthermore, the PIE roots *kers-, *sker-, and *skerh₂-, as reconstructed in LIV², can all be traced back to the same s-extended zero-grade *skh₂-r(h₂)-s-, which was subsequently reanalyzed as an s-aorist and transformed into *skḗh₂r-s- in accordance with the regular ablaut pattern of the saorist. The Greek e-graded κείρω acquired its vocalism through analogy with the aorist. Finally, a PIE zero-grade *skh₂-l(h₂)- can account for all the evidence grouped under skel- and skelh₂- in LIV².