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The *bh Sound in Albanian: A Window into the Language's Ancient Past

Bh.

The Evolution of the Proto-Indo-European Sound *bh from the Perspective of the Proto-Albanian Language.
The Albanian language's lexicon is distinct from other European languages. To better understand this, we must discuss the phonetic evolution of the Proto-Indo-European sound *bh (aspirated B), which followed different trajectories in European languages but has been mostly preserved only in Albanian.
As a result, researchers can find that many Proto-Indo-European sounds followed mainly different paths in European languages, indicating that the split occurred long before the emergence of languages like Old Greek and Latin. Therefore, the similarities between Latin, Albanian, and Old Greek are due to ancient relationships, not borrowings, as some Albanian linguists suggest.
Albanian is a language of both Centum and Satem, thought to be the first branch to break off from PIE. 
Evidence suggests that the Thracian-Illyrian-Macedonian-Epiriote language and the Pre-Greek and Proto-Italic languages had a long co-evolution, resulting in the Centum group located in the west, which evolved from the east in Proto-Indo-European languages.
The major differentiation between Proto-Italian and Proto-Albanian languages occurred after the last Illyrian-Epiriot migration to Italy around 1100-1500 BC. All phonological differences appeared after this time.
After this brief introduction, we will follow the evolution of the *bh sound in Latin and Albanian. In addition to this sound, Proto-Indo-European also had its correspondent *b, a simple *b that was less widespread. Thus, in Latin, there is a small number of words inherited from Proto-Latin that begin with the sound *b easily noticed when opening a dictionary of the Latin language. In contrast, Albanian has a large number of words with the sound *b in the initial position.
We also remember that the other sound of *dh (aspirated d) changed to *f in Latin. In Latin, *bh became p, v, or f, while in Albanian, *bh changed to B. In Thracian-Illyrian-Albanian and Romanian, *bh became b, and *b remained B. In Old Greek, *bh also became p, v, or f, similar to Latin, but this phenomenon seems more like a conscious change by church scribes, possibly a reconstructed late creation.
Thus, *bhabhā 'bean' gave Latin 'beans' and *bean, respectively, and 'bob' in Romanian. 'Bob' is considered of Slavic origin, but its limited spread in Slavic languages, except Bulgarian and Russian, suggests otherwise. PIE cannot explain *bhabha/bean's origin, which I believe comes from the original form of the Albanian language verb *bha (to do, to make), as the bean has the characteristic property of becoming a bean again when planted.
Why does the form 'bob' not have a wider spread in Slavic languages, except Bulgarian and Russian? 
The Bulgarian form may come from Albanian, while Russian borrowed it from Old Bulgarian through Old Church Slavonic, reconstructed with Proto-Albanian language codes. If linguists knew the Albanian form, they would say that Romanian *baba comes from Albanian *bho, a double of the verb *bho. Therefore, a Slavic origin of Romanian *bob cannot be accepted, but it simply comes from proto-Albanian *bho.
Similar forms exist in Old Prussian and Germanic languages. The connection *bhasko,ë/ pako' broadly derives from Albanian *bashke/together, making all things together in one. In contrast, Romanian and Basque say 'sheep's wool' (made flocks), an identical form of Albanian *bashke 'together' and *baskonj, which basically means 'togetherness'.
Copyright © 2024 Fatmir Iliazi.


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