Re: [tied] Latin Perfect (was Re: Reasons)

From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 34663
Date: 2004-10-14

On 04-10-13 23:30, Sean Whalen wrote:

> Doesn't a form like fe-feik-e (or something
> similar) exist in Oscan or Umbrian, making late
> analogy with other verbs with perfect long e unlikely?
>
> I think the -k- is just a regional "stem extension"
> used between two vowels.

What the Italic perfect forms testify to is _competition_ between two
stem variants: full-grade /fe:k-/ and reduplicated zero-grade /fe-fak-/
(Osc. fefacit), presumably resulting from the syncretism of the aorist
and the perfect in that branch. The -k- is indeed a branch-specific
"extension" of obscure origin, occurring in all the conjugational forms
of the verb (and therefore not directly comparable with the -k- of Gk.
tetHe:ka). An authentic Latin o-grade of *dHeh1- may be preserved in
<sacerdo:s> (<sacerdo:t->) < *sakro-dHoh1-t-.

Piotr