PIE *es- ‘to be’ and Albanian derivations

From: Abdullah Konushevci
Message: 21553
Date: 2003-05-06

We find old participle -ent/-ont not even in Albanian words
Perendi 'God', vend 'place', but also in compound participle of PIE
verb *es- 'to be'.
Oldest form *h1es- and zero-grade form *h1s-
1. From athematic first singular *es-mi > Alb. jam `am' through *e >
ja (cf. mjaltë < *melit `honey', i djathtë < *deks- `right', etc.). I
don't believe that here we have to deal with proclitic j-, as many
thing. 2. Thematic third singular form *es-ti. Through nazalization
in AlgG âshtë < anshtë (attested in XVI century) and është in AlbT,
due to regular evolution of cluster –st- > -sht-. Optative form in
Albanian is, according to my view, a compound verb kofsh/qofsh <
*kle:se > klofsh (f is euphonic sound in Alb.) and AlbG kofsh, AlbT
qofsh from PIE *kleu- `to hear'. So, its true meaning is <be heared,
be famous>. 4. Zero-grade (participle) form kanë/qenë < *klu- + -ont
(equation uo > a is same as au > a). 5. From zero-grade form *h1s- + -
ak we got in Albanian cok/sak `realy' and adj. i saktë `real' (cf.
English sin and its interpretation by Watkins *es-). 6. Prefixed form
per- + -ont + i> prani `presence', i pranishëm `present', etc.

Konushevci