[tied] Re: Greek and Sanskrit neuter plural and related questions

A little digression:

In Norwegian, and espesially in daily speach, neuter plural definite
form has the ending -a, and feminin singular definite form has the
ending -a, and neuter singular has the mark -t/d.

Without knowing the history of the language, one might mistakenly
think these ending are directly descended from old IE forms.

They are indeed related to the old forms, but not in an easy way.
They result from contractions of a suffixed pronoun.

It seems that certain forms pop up again and again in the history of
a language, as if they have an ethernal life, and probably because
they suit the psychology and logic of the IE language family.

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "P&G" <G.and.P@...> wrote:
>
> You've probably already had my reply to this, Andrew.
Technology's wonderful when it works, but it can cause great muddles
at times, innit?
>
> Peter
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Andrew Jarrette
> To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Tuesday, October 31, 2006 7:20 PM
> Subject: Re: [tied] Re: Greek and Sanskrit neuter plural and
related questions
>
>
>
>
> P&G <G.and.P@...> wrote:
>
> I've had some email problems, so my reply seems to have got
lost. Sorry
>
> >Those Greek o-stem neuter plurals in <-a> seem exceptional,
and I would
> >like to know how original >they are.
>
> Please clarify. Do you mean the thematics (2nd declension) or
the -s stem
> neuters (3rd declension)?
>
> In both cases, the -a ending is original, as far as I know,
though it was
> probably a long -a at first (as also in Latin).
>
> Peter
> ___________________
> I have had email problems too, hence the long delay in
replying to you.
> I meant the thematics. In this declension, the expected
neuter plural ending would be <thematic vowel + h2>, which if this
were *e, would result in *-eh2 > *-a:. The Latin ending seems to
reflect just this, while the Germanic, Slavic, and Vedic endings
could also come from *-oh2 > *-o:. Such an *-a: would become *-e:
in Attic and Ionic Greek in most words. But instead in Greek one
finds <-a> in o-stem neuter plurals. This is extended to the neuter
plural of the definite article, <ta>. I am asking what the
mechanism is by which one finds <-a> instead of *-e: in these forms
in Greek. Is it analogical, after the consonant stems, where *-h2
would regularly become <-a>? But the neuter consonant stems are so
infrequent (and may be converted to other declensions, e.g.
<kardia:> "heart") that I would question this idea. Any other ideas?
>