From: Piotr Gasiorowski Message: 49370 Date: 2007-07-09
On 2007-07-09 20:35, tgpedersen wrote:
> So the pret. frawarðiða "ruined" is from frawarði-ðiðe: "ruined
> *does*", not "ruined did"?
>
> Hm.
No, it means 'ruined did' (or rather 'made' in Mod.E terms). Note that
*ðeð-/ðe:ð- is the Germanic _preterite_ of 'to do'. It's the present
_stem_ but without the present-tense marker (final *-i), functioning as
the (originally imperfective) past tense. Compare RV dádHa:-ti (pres.)
vs. á-dadHa:-t (impf.).