Re: The Meanings of Middle, or mana kartam (and some corrections)

From: tgpedersen
Message: 47354
Date: 2007-02-08

> >> In Old Persian we find the phrase '(ima tya) mana kartam' "(this
> >> is the) by-me done", ie "this is what I did".

> > Now, by this mistake, we have created a new preterite. Also, its
> > semantics will oscillate between "it is done for me" and "it is
> > done by me", same as we observe in the middle. Note that in Skt.
> > the aor.mid.3sg ending is -ta, the Greek and IndoIranian forms
> > together suggest that a middle could have been formed by analogy:
> > pret. *-mo, *-so, *-to; *-nto, pres. with *-i *-moi, *-soi, *-toi;
> > *-ntoi.
>
> Which means that the middle must have begun as an impersonal, with
> forms only in the 3rd
[Correction:] person,
> pret. *-t-o, *-n-t-o, pres. *-t-o-i, *-n-t-o-i,
> or possibly without the -t- (as my '4sg')
> pret. *-o, *-r-o, pres. *-o-i, *-r-o-i.

The Greek aor.mid.1sg ending is -รณ-me:n, Dor. -ma:n, which corresponds
to the OP mana kartam, but with a t-less ppp.


Torsten