On 2007-03-18 20:27, C. Darwin Goranson wrote:
> One more thing: is there an infinitive form in PIE?
>
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "C. Darwin Goranson"
> <cdog_squirrel@...> wrote:
>> To be more precise than the title: How can one tell from a PIE root
> if
>> it's of the -oh2 or of the -mi conjugation?
>>
>> For example, I'm confused about the root *derk^- . Which one is it, -
> mi
>> ending or -oh2 ending? How can one tell?
You can't predict it from the structure of the _root_. The 1sg. ending
-mi endings is added to consonantal ("athematic") stems, while -o: is
added to vocalic ("thematic") stems (with stem-final *-o/e-). I'm
deliberately transcribing the themetic ending as *-o:, since I'm not
convinced that it goes back to *-o-h2.
Consonantal stems include root verbs like *h1és-mi 'I am' (3sg. h1es-ti
/ 3pl. h1s-énti), nasal-infix presents like *li-né-kW-mi 'I'm leaving
behind' (*li-né-kW-ti / *li-n-kW-énti), reduplicated athematic presents
like *dHi-dHéh1-mi 'I'm putting' (*dHi-dHéh1-ti / *dHé-dH(h1)-n.ti or
the like). The root-present type has a subtype ("Narten presents") with
an underlying long vowel: *sté:u-mi 'I praise' (*ste:u-ti / *stéw-n.ti).
They are the only ones with fixed acent (on the root syllable). The
accent of all the other types is mobile.
Vocalic stems (all of them with fixed accent) include "simple" thematic
presents like *bHér-o: 'I carry' (*bHér-e-ti / *bHér-o-nti; the type,
although extremely common in most branches, may be post-PIE), presents
with accent on the thematic vowel like *gWr.h3-ó: 'I'm devouring'
(*gWr.h3-é-ti / *gWr.h3-ó-nti) reduplicated thematic presents like
*sí-sd-o: 'I'm sitting' (*sí-sd-e-ti / *sí-sd-o-nti), iteratives in
-sk^e- like *pr.k^-sk^ó: 'I keep asking' (*pr.k^-sk^é-ti /
*pr.k^-sk^ó-nti), -je- presents like *wr.g^-jó: 'I'm working'
(*wr.g^-jé-ti / *wr.g^-jó-nti) (with a root-accented variant, see below
on *spék^-je/o-), plus a few derived types such as causatives and
iteratives in *-éje/o- or denominative verbs in *-jé/ó-.
*derk^- 'see, look' forms a simple thematic present in Greek (however,
the endings are those of the middle voice: dérkomai, not *derko:). It
may be a Greek innovation. In Indo-Iranian the present tense is
suppletive (supplied by *(s)pék^-je/o- > Skt. pás'-ya-ti), but *derk^-
has both root and sigmatic aorist forms in Sanskrit (the former also in
Iranian). It seems to have been a root aorist originally (*dérk^-t /
*dr.k^-ént), perhaps without a proper present stem. The root also forms
derived presents like the causative *dork^-éje/o- 'show'.
Piotr