Proto-Indo-European *sneigʷʰ- ‘to fall down; to snow’*

Abstract

In this paper we present a diachronically syntactic analysis of the PIE verbal root *sneigʷʰ-, arguing that it did not originally mean 'to snow', in the proto-language, but rather more primarily 'to fall down'. Evidence from several Indo-European branches is evaluated and argued to support a scenario in which the former meaning arose from the latter in a so-called impersonal verbal construction.