12-11-03 22:33, Abdullah Konushevci wrote:
> First of all, I like to point out that at most all PIE adjectives end
> in -os:
You could say, at most, that _many_ PIE adjectives were "thematic",
which means that their stems ended in *-o- (when the three-gender system
developed, the corresponding feminines were formed by replacing *-o-
with *-ah2-). In the nominative singular, neuters had *-o-m while
masculines had *-o-s (hence the "classic" system *newos/*newah2/*newom).
Most of those thematic adjectives involved various derivational suffixes
(such as *-to-, *-ro-, *-jo-, *-m&1no-/*-mo-/*-no-, etc.).
But there were also athematic adjectives -- in fact, a lot of them, for
example the particularly numerous u-stems, such as *&1su- 'good',
*swah2du- 'sweet', *mr.g^Hu- 'short', (h)o:k^u- 'swift', etc. Other
large groups (in addition to miscellaneus minor types) were adjectives
of participial origin with consonantal stems (from present participles
in *-nt- or perfect participles in *-wot-/*-us-). The old comparative
grade in *-jo:s (m., f.)/*-jos (n.)/*-is- was athematic too.
Piotr