Re: PIE Word Formation Q&A (1)

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski <gpiotr@...> wrote:

> Q. If derivational suffixes in PIE are basically of the shape
> *-(e)C- or *-e/o-, what about *-to-, *-no-, *-ro-, *-tlo-, etc.?
>
> A. These were originally combinations of *-(C)(e)C- with the
> thematic vowel *-ó-, yielding *-(C)C-ó-, eventually fused together
> into a single morpheme, just as the combination of the thematic
> vowel *-e- with the _following_ collective ending *-h2, came to be
> reanalysed as unitary *-ah2-.

The nature of these suffixes is such that they often "attract" the
stress along with the usual quantitative ablaut. What this seems to
imply is that these suffixes were operative during the period of
alternating stress that I mentioned in my previous post.

As to the nature of *-ex (Piotr's *-ah2), I think the jury's still out
on whether the vowel is indeed the "thematic vowel". It seems
possible, at least, that this suffix is in fact unitary to begin with.

> Q. What is the function of the thematic vowel *-e/o- in nominal
> stems?
>
> A. It seems to have formed adjectives of origin, belonging, or a
> similar kind of abstract connection (*X-o- = 'having to do with X').
> For example, RV avya- means 'coming from sheep (<avi->)', and Lat.
> septimus means 'seventh' ('connected with the number seven
> (<septem>).

Yes. It is for this reason that I trace the "thematic vowel"'s origin
back to the (animate) genitive ending *-ós. The development seems to
be the following: Originally, the adjectives did not agree with their
head nouns in number or case. It was at this point that the genitive
ending *-ós came to be used for modifying another noun. Later on,
when people started to inflect adjectives along with their head nouns,
the *-ós ending here was reinterpreted as nominative singular *-s plus
a "thematic" ending *-o. At this point, other case endings could be
attached, giving us the traditional "thematic masculine" declension.

> Hence the hypothesis (discussed here a few months ago) that, e.g.
> the verbal adjectives in *-tó-/*-nó- go back to *-(e)nt-é/ó-, e.g.
> *kWr.tó- 'done' ('coming from the doer, *kWr-ent-').

I suppose that this development is possible, given the relative
similarity between /r/ and /n/. However, I am unsure about both *-tó-
and *-nó- going back to the NT-participle. What would be the
conditioning factors here?

> Adjectives can easily undergo substantivisation, so that we also
> have a great number of thematic nouns, often with contrastive accent
> distinguishing them from related end-stressed adjectives. Some nouns
> and adjectives with final *-o- are etymologically opaque, which
> means that their hypothetical base is unattested on its own. For
> example, *wl.kWo- 'wolf' seems to contain the suffix *-o-, but we
> can't identify the underlying root (*welkW-?).

Despite the lack of base forms in some cases, it seems rather obvious
that the vast majority (if not all) of the "thematic" nouns are in
origin substantivized adjectives.

> Q. When is the thematic vowel replaced by *-i/j-?
>
> A.
>
> (1) In composition, cf. Lith. mai~nas 'exchange' < *moino-s vs. Lat.
> commu:nis 'common, general' < *kom-moini- 'shared mutually'.

Given the observations below, it would appear that the *-i/y- ending
was a parallel ending to the "thematic" one.

> (2) When a thematic adjective is derived from an already thematic
> base, e.g. RV as'vya- 'pertaining to horses' from <as'va-> horse.

This does not seem to follow, given e.g. the "thematic" genitive
plural *-o:m < *-o-om. In other words, *o + *o > *o:, not *io or *yo.

> (3) Before certain suffixes, e.g. diminutive *-ko- (yielding
> *-iko-). Note also the alternation of *-e-h2 with *-i-h2 in
> feminines.

This may seem controversial, but I would like to put forth the idea
that the adjectival (diminutive) suffix *-iko and the feminine suffix
*-ix (= *-ih2) are, in origin, one and the same. The former suffix,
then, would comprise a base form *-ik with the (animate) genitive
ending *-ós, while the latter would continue the base form in
word-final position, where the *-k was lenited to *-x (= *-h2).

- Rob