Re: [tied] Copulae and the origin of IE *?es-

> Harald adds:
> >Just a small pedantic correction. Swahili does use a copula (ni),
> >but for example russian or turkish (although you can have an
> >optional copula (an innovation not more than 1000 y.o)) and as
> >you mentioned, arabic are good examples.
>
> Yes, I stand corrected. However, if I understand, Swahili /ni/,
> being a copula, is not a conjugated verb per se.

Correct.

> In fact, I have
> a thought that *?es- might have started out as a conjugationless
> copula, originally conjugated only in an unmarked
> 3rd person singular as Old IE *?es, basically signifying "there is"
> like Mandarin /you3/. At first, it could be optionally added to
> the sentence, much like Russian /est'/, if I recall. Over time,
> it became a necessary component in the sentence and then further
> gained full conjugation (yet still lacked a thematic vowel like
> the inherited verbs because of the way it had been loaned into
> the language).

Possible of course. However russion est properly means 'there is'
and is not a copula. You can not optionally add it and use it as
a copula in standard russian. Correct me Piots & other Slavs if
I am wrong.

Maybe not too long ago you could optionally add it or in another
person use a form of byt' in the present, like in other slavic
languages but not now afaik.

Harald