This, from Wolf­gang David Cir­ilo de Melo’s review of Michiel Arnoud Cor de Vaan’s Ety­mo­log­i­cal Dic­tio­nary of Latin and the Other Italic Lan­guages, is the best and most insight­ful com­ment I’ve read in the BMCR in quite some time:

Pater is said to go back to a nurs­ery form *pa, phono­log­i­cally *pH2. Much as I like the laryn­geal the­ory in its mod­ern form, a phono­log­i­cal rep­re­sen­ta­tion of babies’ first bab­bling seems slightly over the top. Exactly the same could be said about atta “daddy” < *H2et-o-.

I told that to my wife and her friend this after­noon as though it were a knock-knock joke, but they didn’t find it as funny as I did.

Pos­si­bly related:

1. Politi­cos and Latin Mottos
2. A Ques­tion for Our Readers
3. Bakhtin Again
4. Two Words
5. livy-ing it up in my par­ents’ house