PIE: *bher-1 <-- --> Semitic *b'r - LexiLine Journal 474

Ishinan wrote:

PIE reconstruction in need of revision based on linguistic evidences outside (IE).

PIE: *bher-1 (PIE base *bhor-/*bhr-)

BORE 1 v. tr. TRANSITIVE VERB: 1. To make a hole in or through, with or as if with a drill. 2. To form (a tunnel, for example) by drilling, digging, or burrowing. PIE: bher-1. O.E. borian "to bore," from bor "auger," from P.Gmc. *boron, from PIE base *bhor-/*bhr- "to cut with a sharp point" (cf. Gk. pharao "I plow," L. forare "to bore, pierce," O.C.E. barjo "to strike, fight," Alb. brime "hole") cf. Gk. peirein "to pierce.

http://www.bartleby.com/61/20/B0402000.html

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Compare with:

*B'R Common Semitic noun *b'r to bore, to dig.

http://www.bartleby.com/61/roots/S40.html

B'R : Hebrew/Aramaic: ba'ar (baw-ar) a primitive root; to bore, i.e. (figuratively) examine (1) :--declare.; to dig; by analogy, to engrave; figuratively, to explain:--declare, (make) plain(-ly).; a pit; especially a well:--pit, well. Beer, a place in the Desert, also one in Palestine:--Beer, from buwr (in the sense of 'bo'r' ); a pit hole (especially one used as a cistern or a prison):--cistern, dungeon, fountain, pit, well. (Strong: # 952,953, 874,875 & 876).

B'R / BW'R Classical Arabic: 1. to bore, to dig ; a pit, a fire pit, a storage pit, a well, a cistern. 2. Beirut, from Arabic bayrt, from Phoenician *birt, plural of *bir, well. Figuratively, he hid or concealed a thing. A thing stored for a time of need. He did a good thing beforehand after storing or concealing a thing for himself.

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* (1) compare with PORE (v.) c.1300," to investigate, examine.

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Andis Kaulins replied:

Yes, you are completely right, the PIE reconstruction *bher-1 is
faulty. The Indo-European Latvian language shows us the right path.
Latvian has the compound word pa-ur(t) (PA-UR) "to dig (some), to bore
about", composed of the prefix PA- (BA-) plus the root term UR- "to
dig, to bore", found also with the "t-ending" as Latvian "es pauru
..." (I am digging some, boring some) but also "tu vari paurt ..."
(you can dig some, bore some) or, even older, with the i-stem, paurti.

This has the interesting Latvian cognate purns viz. purnis which means
"snout", i.e. "the digging nose".