On 9/7/04 7:08 PM, george knysh wrote:
>
> If Warsaw is from Warsz (as "Warsh's" --- Warsz-ova,
> Warsz-ava) I have a question. Are there any linguistic
> rules for the form in which such place names emerge?
> Why Warsz-ova (-eva -ava) rather than Warsz-ov (-ev),
> as in the case of Cracow and other such?
Yes. Such names were originally adjectives of possession. <X-ova> stands
elliptically for 'X's PLACE', where PLACE = any common noun that means
some kind of settlement. The adjective adjusts its gender to the gender
of the omitted noun. In Polish, and of course similarly in other Slavic
languages, the adjective is feminine if PLACE = <wies'> 'village' (<
*vIsI), neuter if PLACE = <siol/o> 'village, settlement', and masculine
if PLACE = <gród> 'fort, enclosure, town' (< *gordU) -- these are the
most common possibilities. Thus, e.g. Lviv < *lIvovU is masculine
because it was a <horod>, not a mere village, at the time of its naming;
so was the place where I am at the moment, Poznan' < *poznanjI (a
possessive adjective derived from the personal name Poznan < *poznanU),
as opposed to Warszowa.
Piotr