Re: [tied] Re: PIE grammar (5) -- I wish it were simpler

From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 7293
Date: 2001-05-09

Unpronounceable?? What was the mysterious ending that became unpronounceable with an "r" appended to it? The PIE 2pl. middle ending was something like *-dHwe. Surely sequences like *-dHwe-r or *-dHwo-r (which would have become Latin **-bor) can be pronounced without great difficulty.
 
Piotr
 
 
----- Original Message -----
From: MCLSSAA2@...
To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, May 09, 2001 5:45 PM
Subject: [tied] Re: PIE grammar (5) -- I wish it were simpler

Someone wqrote:-
> I'm not sure about "of course". ... Perhaps -mini: can be somehow
> derived from verb endings.

It seems easy to me. In most finite verb forms in Italic, the ending could be passivized by appending an "r", but in the 2nd person plural that process failed because the result was unpronounceable, so they resorted to a periphrastic form: "y'all are written" = *scribomenoi estes > scribimini.