*upó

Reconstruction

The adverb and preverb is *upó 'under' in Beekes,^[1] *upo 'below' in Fortson,^[2] and *up-o in Kloekhorst and Pronk, who segment it as a stem with a petrified ending *-o.^[3] Dictionaries differ on the onset: de Vaan writes *(h1)upo 'up, from below',^[4] Kroonen *h₁up-o,^[5] EWAia *(h)upo with the laryngeal marked as uncertain,^[6] and Adams *(s)h₄upo 'under, below'.^[7] Dunkel argues against any initial laryngeal, since a form with a laryngeal would have been vocalised differently in Greek.^[8] Ringe tentatively sets up *supó 'under, near', which he thinks became *upó under the influence of *upér 'over'.^[9]

Morphology

Kroonen and Beekes take the final *-o as a petrified allative ending, the same as in *pró and the particle for 'away'.^[5][10] Kloekhorst and Pronk set this petrified *-o of *pr-o and *up-o 'down to' beside the allative ending -a of Hittite, which also continues *-o.^[3] For Dunkel the base is a locative particle *up 'above', from which *up-o was the directive form 'upwards' and *upér the locative adverb; unextended *up and *up-o were at first preverbs only.^[11]

Evidence

The particle is found in Indo-Iranian, Greek, Italic, Celtic and Germanic, with a cognate in Tocharian if the sibilant form is accepted.^[12][7] In Anatolian, Sturtevant connected Hittite up- (“to rise, of heavenly bodies”) with the full grade of this particle.^[13] Latin and Greek point to an initial s, which Beekes and Chantraine call obscure,^[12][14] while de Vaan takes the Celtic forms as showing that the s- of Latin is an Italic development.^[4]

Competing analyses

Dunkel separates two rhyming antonyms that most handbooks merge: *up 'above' with directive *up-o 'upwards', and *sup 'below' with directive *sup-o 'downwards'.^[15] He rejects both an s-mobile and a vague meaning as the reason for merging them.^[15] On his account Indo-Iranian, Germanic and Armenian continue only *up, Tocharian only *sup-o, and Greek, Italic and Celtic cannot decide, since the two fell together there by parallel but opposite levellings.^[15] Watkins took Hittite forms with and without s- as proof that the two were one particle, which Dunkel denies.^[15] Ringe also starts from a form with an initial s, but derives the s-less form from it.^[9]

Meanings

1. under, below,^[1][2] under, near^[9]
2. up, from below,^[4] upwards^[8]

Chantraine notes that 'under' is well attested in Greek, Italic, Gothic and Celtic, and that a sense 'from below' may have led to the Indo-Iranian meanings 'towards, beyond, on'.^[14] Dunkel describes the Vedic adverb as mostly horizontal, 'near to, towards', and calls the Gothic sense 'under' a Gothic reversal of meaning.^[16]

Derivatives

• The superlative *(h1)up-m(H)o- 'highest', in Sanskrit उपम (upamá, “uppermost, highest”)^[17] and Latin summus (“highest”).^[18][19] Ancient Greek ὕπατος (húpatos) replaced the suffix with -το-.^[19]
• Ancient Greek ὕπτιος (húptios, “bent backwards, supine”), formed with the suffix -tio-.^[20]
• Latin supīnus (“lying face upwards”), which de Vaan takes as keeping the old sense 'upwards'.^[4]
• *up-s 'above, upwards', with Ancient Greek ὕψι (húpsi, “on high”) and Latin sus- (“up”).^[21]
• Proto-Germanic *eup ~ *upp, cited by Kroonen beside *uba,^[5] and English up from *up-n- in Beekes.^[1]
• The locative adverb *upér 'over'.^[8]

Reflexes

• Indo-Aryan: Sanskrit उप (úpa, “towards, near to, at”).^[17][6]
• Iranian: Avestan upa (“towards, near, at”), Old Persian upā (“at, by”).^[6]
• Greek: Ancient Greek ὑπό (hupó, “under, underneath, from under”), Mycenaean Greek u-po.^[12]
• Italic: Latin sub (“under, below; reaching from below, up to”), Umbrian su (“under”).^[4]
• Celtic: Proto-Celtic *ufo- (“under”), Old Irish fo (“under”).^[22]
• Germanic: Proto-Germanic *uba (“under; above”), Gothic 𐌿𐍆 (uf, “under”), Old Norse of (“over; about”), Old High German oba (“above, on, over”).^[5]
• Tocharian: Tocharian B spe (“near by”), if from a form with an initial s.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c Beekes, Robert S. P. (2011), Comparative Indo-European Linguistics: An Introduction, 2nd ed., revised by Michiel de Vaan, Amsterdam: Benjamins, p. 248
2. ^ a b Fortson, Benjamin W., IV (2010), Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction, 2nd ed., Malden, MA / Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, p. ch. 7
3. ^ a b Kloekhorst, Alwin; Pronk, Tijmen, eds. (2019), The Precursors of Proto-Indo-European, Leiden: Brill, p. 13
4. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. sub
5. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 556
6. ^ a b c Mayrhofer, Manfred (1986–2001), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. úpa
7. ^ a b c Adams, Douglas Q. (2013), A Dictionary of Tocharian B, 2nd ed., Amsterdam: Rodopi, p. 788
8. ^ a b c Dunkel, George E. (2014), Lexikon der indogermanischen Partikeln und Pronominalstämme, vol. 2: Lexikon, Heidelberg: Winter, p. 830
9. ^ a b c Ringe, Don (2017), From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. πρό
11. ^ Dunkel, George E. (2014), Lexikon der indogermanischen Partikeln und Pronominalstämme, vol. 2: Lexikon, Heidelberg: Winter, p. 835
12. ^ a b c Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. ὕπο
13. ^ Tischler, Johann (1977–2016), Hethitisches etymologisches Glossar, Innsbruck, p. 69
14. ^ a b Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck, p. 1160
15. ^ a b c d Dunkel, George E. (2014), Lexikon der indogermanischen Partikeln und Pronominalstämme, vol. 2: Lexikon, Heidelberg: Winter, p. 750
16. ^ Dunkel, George E. (2014), Lexikon der indogermanischen Partikeln und Pronominalstämme, vol. 2: Lexikon, Heidelberg: Winter, p. 831
17. ^ a b Mayrhofer, Manfred (1956–1980), Kurzgefasstes etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindischen, Heidelberg: Winter, p. 105
18. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. summus
19. ^ a b Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. ὕπατος
20. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. ὕπτιος
21. ^ Dunkel, George E. (2014), Lexikon der indogermanischen Partikeln und Pronominalstämme, vol. 2: Lexikon, Heidelberg: Winter, p. 832
22. ^ Matasović, Ranko (2009), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic, Leiden: Brill, p. 408