Die Vermittlungsrolle des Hochlettischen bei den altrussischen und litauischen Entlehnungen im Lettischen
The mediating Role of High Latvian in the Old Russian and Lithuanian Borrowings in Latvian

Summary/Abstract: In this article it is argued that most Latvian borrowings from Old Russian must have entered the language through Proto-High-Latvian, whence they were borrowed into Proto-Middle-Latvian. This would explain their pho¬netic shape, particularly Middle Latvian uo as the reflex of Old Russ. u [u:] in borrowings like suoma (OR. suma), muoka (OR. muka), presumably through Proto-High-Latvian *sūma, *mūka with subsequent substitution of [uo] for [u:] according to the pattern of sound correspondences be¬tween the dialects. This assumption would also account for many- other cases where Middle Latvian forms diverge from those of Old Russian (and Lithuanian), cf. Middle Latvian baznîca with broken tone on a suf¬fix usually bearing sustained tone (-nĩca).

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