--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Joao S. Lopes" <josimo70@...>
wrote:
> The stem of Are:s (gen. Areos) is *Are:s (gen. aresos). Analogous
> stems seem to be masculine names derived from neuter s-tems, for
> example:
Oh, so Are:s is an s-stem? I did not know that.
> kratos (gen. krateos) > -krate:s
> sthenos > - sthene:s
> me:dos > -me:de:s
> kle(w)os > *kle(w)e:s
> menos > -mene:s
I reconstruct these as originally genitival adjectives of s-stems:
*man- > *men- 'think'
abs. *mánat > *mánas > *ménos 'mind'
gen. *manátsa > *m(@)ná(t)s > *menéss > *mené:s 'of (a) mind'
With inanimate nouns, the genitive did not come to be employed as an
ergative, so it retained its earlier function. Later on, the
animate genitive in *-ós was extended to the inanimate class, giving
e.g. *menesos. Then *mené:s was fossilized as an adjectival form,
typically in conjunction with another noun or adjective, such as
*wesu-mené:s > Gk. eumenês 'of a good mind'.
> So, we would try to derive Are:s from an hypothetical aros (gen.
> areos), if such name is actually Greek. Aros in Greek means "use,
> profit, gain", but this name has only the Nominative. (cf.
> aristos, arete:, areion ?)
So there was an IE word *xárat > *aros which meant "use, profit,
gain" and had a genitive form *xarátsa > *x@...@ > *x@... >
*x@... > *aré:s. That would mean "of use, of profit, of gain",
perhaps becoming "useful, profitable, gainful". Then Are:s would
mean "the profitable one" or "the gainful one", perhaps in reference
to agriculture. The formation of *its* genitive, though, must have
occurred after intervocalic /s/ was lenited; otherwise, the form
would have been *Are:os.
- Rob