[tied] Re: Singulative

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...> wrote:

>
> So, I found the quote:
> G & I p 246 note 17.
> "According to Knobloch (1955:213, 1958:240), there is evidence for a
> former collective meaning of Greek guné: < *gW(e)na: in
> the 'singulative' formations such as gunaikós (with a suffix *-k- of
> the same type as in Avent. pasuka- "domestic animal", cf. pasu-
> "livestock")."
>
> I need a Greek course. On the other hand, my original idea that the
> -k- suffix of Nordwestblock words was singulative seems to hold.

I would like to suggest, Martinet-style, that the suffix *-iko- is
from *-iH2H2-o-, representing a thematicized derivative from a
collective *-e-H2 with gemination of the laryngeal. Singulatives are
not seldom marked by gemination. That, however, does not explain the
aberrant paradigm of guné:, gunaikós, which, to me at least, remains
enigmatic.

Jens