Re: PIE meaning of the Germanic dental preterit

> Against an imperfect argues the fact that there is no
> overlap (and no difference in meaning) between strong and
> weak preterites in attested Gmc. Strong verbs of course
> don't have a ptc. in *-to- (they have it in *-eno-), but the
> question then is: what happened to the imperfect in *-ena
> ðeðe:?

But strong verbs have a passive in Gothic (and since it's PIE,
presumably PGerm. did too): 3sg bairaða. That would get in the way of
a ppp. in *-to.


Torsten