--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Piotr Gasiorowski" <gpiotr@...>
wrote:
> Actually, stems
> like *wed-r/n-, *pet-r/n-, etc., may themselves be substantivised old
> neuter participles (like **pet-nt 'flying, that which flies' -->
> 'feather, wing')
That is really ingenious. Functionally, one may wonder if the
connection is even deeper: If re:x and regens mean pretty much the
same, it is perhaps rather the "individualizing" function of the n(t)-
suffix that may here be extended to include also the r-allomorph. From
collectives, the suffix denotes a single particular manifestation,
sometimes directly a singulative; and from animates it denotes the
particular one which the speaker has in mind. It seems to come close
to a definite article.
Jens