Re: But where does *-mi come from?

Finally found the Slavic examples of dative (in this case) absolute.
Gamkrelidze, Ivanov, IE and the IEans, p 249, fn

Cf. the dative and locative absolutes (with participial forms) in
various Indo-European languages, eg. the dative absolute with human
subjects in Slavic:

ORuss.

'derevljanomU z^epris^eds^imu, povele^Ol'ga movI stvoriti'
"when the Derevljane had come, Olga ordered that a bath be prepared'
(lit. "the Derevljane [dat.] having-come [dat.]...');

Mstislavu se^djas^c^ju na obe^de^, pride emu ve^st'
"while Mstislav was sitting at dinner, news came to him"
(lit. "Mstislav [dat.] sitting [dat.]...');

'i na dolze^ borjus^c^emasja ima, iznemagati M'stislav'
"since they had been fighting a long time, Mstislav began to be
tired"
(lit. "they [dat.] fighting [dat.]');

for Old Church Slavic see Nec^ásek 1957.



Torsten