Latin presents in -t- and the etymologies of necto ‘to weave, bind’ and flecto ‘to bend, curve’

“Latin presents in -t- and the etymologies of necto ‘to weave, bind’ and flecto ‘to bend, curve’” This paper discusses the origin of the Latin verbs formed with the suffix -t- in the present stem, as well as the etymologies of those verbs. It is argued that PIE did not have the present-stem forming suffix *-t-. Rather, this suffix developed in some western Indo-European dialects, including Italic, in the verb *pek’-t- ‘to comb’, presumably on analogy with the noun *pek’tēn ‘comb’, and it spread analogically to the verb *plek’-t- ‘to braid, plait’, which had a similar meaning and form. In Latin, this present-stem forming suffix was further extended to necto ‘to weave, bind’ and flecto ‘to bend, curve’. The former verb is probably derived from the PIE root *neg’h- ‘to penetrate’ (> ‘to intertwine’), and the latter is from the PIE root *gwhleg’h- ‘to bend’.