Re: [tied] Re: Origin of OE pres. ind. 1st person ending

On Sat, 29 Oct 2005 21:50:24 +0000, gleyink
<eyink@...> wrote:

>--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "dariusz_piwowarczyk"
><dariusz_piwowarczyk@...> wrote:
>>
>> I would like to ask what is the present opinion as to the origin of
>> the Old English 1st person present indicative ending in West Saxon,
>> i.e. the -e ending. Northern Old English dialects have -u which is a
>> continuation of the PIE long -o. So, is the West Saxon form from the
>> optative?
>>
>> Looking forward for any suggestions.
>>
>> Dariusz
>>
>
>In the earliest West-Saxon manuscripts, this ending appears
>as -æ rather than -e. I have seen various explanations for it.
>For example, -e < -æ < -am is a regular word-final development
>in Old English.

Where -am ultimately derives from PIE -o:m.

>The use of such a secondary -m ending in the
>present indicative 1st person is common in other IE languages
>as well, such as Old Irish, Persian, etc.

Also Slavic.

In the case of West Saxon, one might consider the fact that
-(T)e (also from earlier -(T)æ ?) is the ending of the 1sg.
weak preterite.

=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv@...