Evening/Night (was Re: The "Mother" Problem)

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Miguel Carrasquer <mcv@...> wrote:

> On Thu, 10 Feb 2005 15:00:32 +0000, tgpedersen
> <tgpedersen@...> wrote:
>
> >
> >
> >> English [...] has two
> >> possessive constructions, the prenominal Saxon genitive,
> >> e.g. <the man's hat>, and the postnominal Norman genitive,
> >> e.g. <the roof of the house>."
> >>
> >
> >It would seem the Normans invaded the Netherlands too.
>
> Oh yes, they sacked Dorestad in 834, 835, 836 and 837 :-).
>

I am very sorry; it won't happen again (given the present condition
of Dorestad, that's a safe promise).

'af'/'av' in the Scandinavian languages are used for objective and
subjective genitives with verbal nouns, that preposition can't be
used in other genitive situations, but the 'systemic pressure'
towards a postposed genitive with inanimate owners is so strong, that
we make do with any other preposition that comes in handy: 'taget på
huset', lit. "the roof on the house" > "the roof of the house" etc.

Torsten