--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Andrew Jarrette <anjarrette@...> wrote:
>
> A while back Piotr Gasiorowski informed us of his theory of the
Sanskrit thematic aorist with zero grade (type <avidat>) having
evolved from older subjunctive forms. When I asked him whether this
Sanskrit aorist information could not have been an independent
original aorist formation, having nothing to do with the subjunctive,
he said that no other languages provided evidence of its formation.
> Now that I have learned some Greek grammar, however, I find the
exact same formation in the Greek "strong" aorist, of the type
<elipon>, aorist to <leipo:>, with many other examples.
There are few roots that have this form of the aorist in both
Sanskrit and Greek (IIRC, there is exactly one indisputable case).
This has led this to be considered an independent innovation
in both branches. [In Sanskrit at least, we see roots having
root forms in RV start being used in weak thematic form later.
That is an alternate explanation. This kind of thing, thematic
forms based on apparent reinterpretation of third pl in an(ti) as
if it is thematic, is very common in Prakrits.]
Nath Rao