Re: IE roots or Gmc innovations?

On 2009-02-04 03:08, the_black_sheep@... wrote:

> What about fientive verbs? If we consider:
> *þurzna- < the causative *þers-a-
> *lizna- < the causative *laiz-i- (or PIE *lais-???)
> Is it likewise the (SV3) zero grade/the Gmc. (WV1) preterite?
> What sort of formative suffix was added after *-na-?
> Would they both be Gmc innovations?

The type is based on PIE athematic *-nah2- stems, but in Germanic it was
restructured in dialect-specific ways. In OE, for example, we get class
II weak noun inflections: *-no:-ja-, pret. *-no:-d- > OE -nian, 3sg.
-naþ, pret. -node.

> And a separate question:
> */leb-/ > OE lippa
> */spr-/ > OE spre:awlian

*leb-j-on- > *lipjan- > *lippan-, I suppose (with the WGmc. gemination
before *j).

As for <spre:awlian>, it contains a reflex of *sprou- with what seems to
be an expressive suffix and ordinary weak-verb inflections. Whatever its
history, it must have been a mostly Germanic affair.

Piotr