Re: [tied] Depth, det, etc.

Hello to you, Piotr - and everyone else! I would say exactly the opposite:
The suffix *-eto- is related to the stem suffix of s-stems, cf. *némos
'reverence' : *nemeto- 'holy' (Skt. námas- and Gaul. nemeton, resp.). The
thematic forms simply forms an adjective from the s-stem noun (cf. the
adj. meaning of Skt. yajatá- 'adorable, godlike'). The alternation -t-/-s
is as with the 2nd person marker, so the two "dentals" are originally
identical. An s-stem can be used to express a stative noun derived from an
adjective, as Gk. báthos 'depth', báros 'weight'. Thus far, we would
expect *dheub-etó- to mean 'depth-related'; of this, *dheub-étaH2 is the
collective 'depth-related things, d.-r. situation, depth'. The common
o-stems then caused a change of suffixal form to give *-ota:- in some of
the languages. The full line of derivation and phonological alternation
back to the period of the beginning of ablaut still needs to be worked
out, but this must be part of the picture. We still may meet, if the
living process of forming collectives with accent shift worked on a
pre-ablaut *-eté- after it had become *-oté- (on its way to *-té- which
never came about) and changed it into *-óte-, ntr.pl. *-óte-H2.

Jens

On Sat, 23 Mar 2002, Piotr Gasiorowski wrote:

> Hello, Jens,
>
> What's your view about the origin of PGmc. *-iþo:? In some other
> branches de-adjectival nouns in *-tah2-(t-) the suffix is attached to
> the stem of the adjective (ending in *-o- if the adjective is
> thematic, cf. Slav. sle^po-ta, Gk. neo-te:s). Skt. nava-ta:, Latin
> novi-ta:s and Goth. niujiþa are of course ambiguous, each in a
> slightly different manner. My impression is that Gmc. *-iþo: might be
> a branch innovation (for "expected" *-aþo:) inspired by the
> predominant vocalism of other de-adjectival formations (diups -->
> diupis, diupista, diupei [diupiþa], diupjan).
>
> The assumed change of gender in Albanian looks a bit arbitrary. I
> wonder if a connection could be established between hypothetical
> *dHeubetos and hydronyms like *seretos (the River Siret).
>
> Piotr
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Jens Elmegaard Rasmussen
> To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Saturday, March 23, 2002 3:30 PM
> Subject: Re: [tied] Re: Daci
>
>
> No, no, Alb. det 'sea' is identical with Eng. depth, Goth. diupitha, PGmc. /*deupitho:/, reflecting IE *dheub-etaH2; only the Alb. word is masculine. Perhaps the word was originally neuter, but was transferred to masc. gender before the beginning of the records.
>
>