Combining Hamp and Holzer-Gentlemen, You Are Both Right

When Slavic first began to be studied, it was noticed that several common Indo-European (IE) roots appeared to be lacking, one of which is conventionally believed to be IE *k'uō(n)/k'un- 'dog.' Recently, however, it has been the subject of two papers, relating it respectively to Slavic *pьsъ (Hamp 1980), and Slavic *zvon- (Holzer 1991). Hamp proposes that IE *k'uō(n)/k'un- is, in fact, originally derived from IE *pek'u-'cattle.' According to such a reconstruction, *k'uō(n)/k'un- would be derived from *pk'uō(n)/pk'un-, a zero-grade of *pek'u-ō(n)/pek'un-, with little semantic difficulty. Meanwhile, Holzer presents a fairly convincing case for a root *zvo-/zvon- 'dog' in Common Slavic (< IE *k'uō(n)/k'un-), where the voicing in the initial *z- may be treated as the result of borrowing within his Temematisch framework (< *svo- dog, cf. Lithuanian šuo - id.). The root *zvon- in Slavic is normally associated with sounds, especially ringing. Holzer includes a comprehensive survey of the semantic issues. Hamp and Holzer are by no means mutually exclusive. Coming down firmly on the side of one or the other is difficult; my own preference would be for a theory that would incorporate them both. Such a theory is developed in this paper.