It depends. I'm not sure about the Old
Russian example, but Russ. <naxodit'> means 'find', so the meaning 'be
there' is derived exactly as in the case of <find oneself
(somewhere)>, <se trouver>, or Polish <znajdowac' sie,>. 'Find'
in turn is commonly expressed as a verb of motion with an
adprep (cf. Eng. come across, Lat. in-venire). Note that the perfective
counterpart of <na-xodit'> is <na-jti> with the 'walk' root (*i-
< *ei-). In Polish we have archaic <(z)nachodzic'/(z)najs'c'> of the
same origin as the Russian forms, plus the currently normal variant
<(z)najdowac'/(z)nalez'c'>, with roots that unambiguously express movement
(*i(d)-, *le^z-). 'Walk' rather than 'sit', ater all.
Piotr
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2001 8:29 PM
Subject: [tied] Re: Vrddhi in sigmatic aorist
De semanticis Sclavicis comparativis: at least for Old
Russian
<xoditi> the meaning 'reside;live' is attested, cf. Russian
<naxodit's'a> 'be (somewhere in space; in a state)'. Rather from
'sit' than 'walk', isn't it?