--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Joao S. Lopes" <josimo70@...>
wrote:
> Latin ina:nis "empty" = absence of ...what? What is the meaning of
> this suffix -a:nis? Akin to h2enh1- "to breath"?
Yes, at least according to the analysis offered by Edwin W. Fay
("Dreams, the Swelling Moon, the Sun", _The Classical Quarterly_,
Vol. 11, No. 4 [Oct., 1917], pp. 212-13). Yet, this author does not
interpret the grammatical particle in- as a negative prefix (as in.
e.g., Lat. in-ertis). He proposes that the form-pattern for this
Lat. adjective is provided by such Greek formations as en-
orkhos 'having testicles' and en-spondos 'having a drink-offering'
(i.e., 'included in a truce or treaty', because a solemn drink-
offering, sponde:,was made on concluding them). On this analogy, in-
a:nis may be etymologized as 'having (nothing but) air',
viz. 'empty, void'. The root would be, therefore, *an(@)- 'to
breathe'
According to Fay, a perfectly parallel Greek development is found in
anemo:lios 'windy', used metaphorically since Homeric times with the
meaning 'vain, empty, insubstantial' (akin in meaning to Lat.
ina:nis). This adjective is, most likely, dissimilated from
*anemo:nios(< anemos 'wind'). An exact synonym is the Homeric
adjective metamo:nios 'vain, idle', etymologized since antiquity as
if for *met-anemo:nios (again < anemos 'wind', and akin in meaning
to Lat. ina:nis).
Although the PIE root *an(@)- appears in Latin mainly in the
suffixed *an(@)-mo form (cf. anima 'wind, air, breath'), it is also
attested in the suffixed (denominative) *an-slo form in the verb
ha:lo:, -a:re 'to breathe' (according to Pokorny, with phoney -h-).
I mean, if Fay's analysis is proved correct, the long -a- in ina:nis
must have some phonological explanation like the one offered for
ha:lo: (but I don't know which one!).
Regards,
Francesco