Re: long o: Nominative

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "alexandru_mg3" <alexandru_mg3@...> wrote:

>
> Thanks a lot, but I have asked about the long vowel in the root
>
> Nom.: R(o:)-ending
>
> Sorry my mistake not to explain well...

Ha ha! You made me laugh with that one -- all that work!

Anyway, I'm not sure what noun class you mean: do you mean o-stems with long o: in the root? Or do you mean consonant stems with long o: in the root? The latter are not infrequent, as an original *o was lengthened in the monosyllabic nominative before the *-s ending. In Sanskrit, such nouns have <a:> throughout the nominative, accusative, and vocative, while the other cases either maintain an unlengthened <a>, or generalize the <a:> of the nominative. The archetypes of these are <pa:t> "foot" for the former type and <va:k> "voice" for the latter type. Similar is <ga:us> "ox" which has <gav-> in inflected forms other than the nom., acc., or voc. (before vowels), and which would have been PIE *gWo:us, inflected *gWow-. The Greek word for foot, <poús, gen. sg. podós>, has a spurious diphthong in the nom. sg. whose origin I don't think has ever been satisfactorily explained. However the Greek word (Homeric) <dô> "house" has a regularly lenghthened o: from original *o in a monosyllable (*dom). I don't know its declension apart from the accusative sg. and the nom./acc. sg. are the same as the nom. sg.

As for *o: in the root in other noun classes, my knowledge is too limited for me to say anything. Of course, there will be nouns with original *oH or *eH3 which later became *o:, but I assume you mean original *o:.

I'm sure the others on the list will chime in with yet more information, and any corrections to what I've said.

Andrew

P.S. besides the names Peter mentioned as with -o: in Greek, there are also the words <kerdó:> "wily one; fox", <kami:no:> "furnace-woman", <pheidó:> "a sparing; thrift", and <khreó:> "want; longing" (all from New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin by Andrew Sihler).

>
>
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Andrew Jarrette" <anjarrette@> wrote:
> >
> > --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "alexandru_mg3" <alexandru_mg3@> wrote:
> > >
> > > Could somebody tell me what class of nouns forms the nominative with long o:?
> > >
> > > What is the origin of this long wovel?
> > >
> > > Do we have for the same class a zero-grade genitive in R(zero)-'os?
> > >
> > >
> > > Many thank,
> > >
> > > Marius
> > >
> >
> > In Greek, nouns with the nominative in -o: are few (or perhaps only one), and come from a stem in -oi (I'm not sure why the nominative has -o: from the stem -oi, but probably it either has the ending of the accusative, where -o: is regular, or it is a shortening of original -o:i, with lengthening of an origin I don't know -- but note the vocative has the full long diphthong, below). Declension below:
> >
> > peitho:, "persuasion" (singular only)
> >
> > Nom. peithó:
> > Acc. peithó: (*peithóa < *peithóia)
> > Dat. peithôi (*peithoï < *peithoii)
> > Gen. peithoûs (*peithóos < *peithóios)
> > Voc. peithoî
> >
> > They correspond to the Sanskrit noun <sakha:> "friend" below, with -a: in the nominative singular similarly from IE *-o:i originally:
> >
> > Sg. Pl. Du.
> > Nom. sákha: sákha:yah. sákha:ya:u
> > Acc. sákha:yam sákhi:n sákha:ya:u
> > Dat. sákhye: sákhibhyah. sákhibhya:m
> > Gen. sákhyuh. sákhi:na:m sákhyo:h.
> > Abl. sákhyuh. sákhibhyah. sákhibhya:m
> > Inst. sákhya: sákhibhih. sákhibhya:m
> > Loc. sákhya:u sákhis.u sákhyo:h.
> > Voc. sákhe sákha:yah. sákha:ya:u
> >
> >
> > The nouns in Latin that end in -o: are members of the n-declension, and represent (in the nom. sg.) -o:<*-o:n<*-ons. They have both masculine and feminine members, and within Latin the declension varied somewhat. Masculine examples are <homo:> "man, human" and <leo:> "lion" below (the <leo:> declension is much more frequent):
> >
> > Sg. Pl. Sg. Pl.
> > Nom. homo: homine:s leo: leo:ne:s
> > Acc. hominem homine:s leo:nem leo:ne:s
> > Dat. homini: hominibus leo:ni: leo:nibus
> > Gen. hominis hominum leo:nis leo:num
> > Abl. homine hominibus leo:ne leo:nibus
> > Voc. homo: homine:s leo: leo:ne:s
> >
> > The feminines are declined identically. The nominative ending -o: could also be shortened to -o (and very often was in classical Latin).
> >
> > Apart from these, I don't know any other sources of -o: in the nominative singular in IE languages. As for the zero-grade genitive, see the declensions above.
> >
> > Andrew
> >
>