What question did this study set out to answer?

This research aims to clarify the reflexes of the Proto-Indo-European adjective related to the concept of uprightness in Vedic and Avestan languages.

July 10, 2026

Reconsidering the problem of Vedic ūrdhváand Avestan ərəδβa-, arəduuī-

Key Points

This research aims to clarify the reflexes of the Proto-Indo-European adjective related to the concept of uprightness in Vedic and Avestan languages.
Analyzed the historical linguistic evolution of the Proto-Indo-European adjective *H₃érH₂dʰu-/*H₃r̥H₂dʰéu̯-.
Proposed analogical processes affecting feminine and non-feminine stems in Proto-Indo-Iranian.
Investigated the leveling of Avestan forms based on inherited oblique usages.
Identified a secondary introduction of the second laryngeal in the non-feminine adjectives due to analogy.
Proposed that *ərdu̯ ī-́ was leveled in Avestan from the expected *ardui̯ā́- based on its strong stem.
Clarified the transformation from mesodynamic form *Hr̥Hdʰáu̯ī- to the feminine stem *Hr̥Hdʰu̯ ī-́.

Abstract

Abstract The article proposes a straightforward solution to the long-standing problem of the reflexes of the Proto-Indo-European adjective *H₃érH₂dʰu-/*H₃r̥H₂dʰéu̯- ‘upright’ (thematized early on to *H₃r̥(H₂)dʰ-(e)u̯-ó-) and its originally athematic feminative *H₃r̥H₂dʰ-éu̯-iH₂-/*H₃r̥H₂dʰ-u-i̯éH₂- in Vedic and Avestan. It is proposed that the non-feminine stem of the adjective, reconstructable for Proto-Indo-Iranian as *Hr̥Hdʰu̯ó-, has secondarily introduced the second laryngeal by analogy with the corresponding feminine stem *Hr̥ Hdʰu̯ ī-́ (itself a transformation of the inherited mesodynamic form *Hr̥Hdʰáu̯ī-). As for Avestan, the strong stem of the feminine, where *ərdu̯ ī-́ would be expected, is argued to have been leveled to *ardu̯ ī-́ on the basis of the inherited oblique *ardui̯ā́-.

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