c-AFRASIAN-3_r-N-declension.htm

PROTO-LANGUAGE PHONEMES

in IE and Afrasian

(Hieroglyphic Egyptian and Arabic)
Nostratic Hypothesis

by Patrick C. Ryan
(2/12/2001)

I.

INDO-EUROPEAN



R / N-DECLENSION

1. It is well-known that IE exhibits a nominal r/n-declension, termed the neuter heteroclite declension (Brugmann 1888: II, 375-6; III, 103-4); but these paired formants play a modest role in it except in Hittite.

I will demonstrate that the principal employment of -n is to specify definite small measures of items in the inflectional cases of nouns that are normally conceptualized indefinitely en masse in the nominative and accusative, the uses in which this use is most likely to occur.



PL HHA + F[H](A), 'definite animate plural' = 'body of water(s)' = IE 9. aw(e)- [for *H₂ew- {cf. Old Indian o:dati:, 'welling up'}, 'wet, dampen, flow'

with T[?]O, 'definite inanimate large plural' = IE *a:ud-, '*mass of water' {cf. Armenian get, 'river'

with RE, 'indefinite inanimate singular' = IE *(a)udo:r- {cf. Greek údo:r, 'water'}, 'some water (to drink, to wash, etc.)';





PL K[H]E, 'dark' + X[H]O, 'pack' = IE k^ekw-, 'manure'

with RE, 'indefinite inanimate singular' = IE k^ekwr-, 'piece of manure'.







We must also be able to visualize an ancient stage of the language during which quantifiers could also precede their nouns as simple adjectival modifiers:





PL ¿A, 'much' + X[H]O, 'compaction', i.e. 'very dense or knobby' = IE *ye/e:kw- {for *H₂ekw-), 'liver'

with RE, 'indefinite inanimate singular' = IE *H₂ekwr-, 'piece of liver';





PL ¿A, 'much' + SE, 'emission' = IE *e/e:s- {for *H₂es-; cf. Old Latin aser, 'blood'), 'blood'

with RE, 'indefinite inanimate singular' = IE *H₂esr-, 'drop/puddle of blood';





PL ¿A, 'much' + SE, 'seed' = IE *es- {for *H₂es-; cf. Gothic asans, 'harvest, summer'), 'harvest(-time), summer'

with RE, 'indefinite inanimate singular' = IE *H₂esr-, '*seed/harvest-time,

with NA, 'definite inanimate singular' = IE H₂esn-, 'harvest(ed seed)';





PL FA, 'definite inanimate plural' + T[?]SE, 'finger, teat' = IE u:dh-, 'udder'

with RE, 'indefinite inanimate singular' = IE u:dher-, 'teat, *udder {cf. Latin u:ber, 'udder, teat')';





PL FA, 'definite inanimate plural' + SE, 'seed' = IE *wes- {in Greek ê:ros, from *wesr-, 'spring'}, 'spring, *summer (cf. Latvian vasara, 'summer');

with RE, 'indefinite inanimate singular' = IE *wasr-, '*seed/planting-time';

with NA, 'definite inanimate singular' = IE wasn-, '*planted seed[-time])' {cf. the interesting pair *esu-s and we/e:su-, both 'good`];

with RE, 'indefinite inanimate singular' = IE a:t(h)(e)r- {cf. Old Indian atharvan-, 'fire-priest'}, 'hearth'.

2. Notice that in all these examples a plural formant begins the word, and the purpose of RE is essentially to re-singularize the idea expanded uses can be seen in Hittite where, again, it is used to singularize:

3.In Hurrian and Urartian, -r, which is much more in evidence, is seen in -(a)ra/e, e.g. in

• (h)iyari, 'gold`:

  PL HHA, 'water' + ¿E, derivative = HA¿(A), 'reflective, metal` = *(h)iya

  with RE = *(h)iyari (IE ayer- {cf. OHG e:r, 'ore`}, '(piece of) ore')
  
  

  The prevalent IE form, *ayos-, '(*piece of) metal', is a product of **ay- (= Hurrian *(h)iya) + -s from PL SE, unique inanimate singular.

  Cf. also in Urartian -eri/e and -âshi in ^Din-eri-âshi, 'divinity` ("a quality of any god");
  
  

• and Urartian patari/e (Hurrian pattarri), 'city`:

  PL P[H]A, 'flat' + T[H]O, distributive = *pata

  with RE = patari/e (IE ayer- {cf. OHG e:r, 'ore`}, '(piece of) ore')
  
  

  (IE 1. pet-, 'spread out, *fence {cf. MHG vade, 'fence'; and Sumerian bad-3, 'city wall'})
  
  Therefore, patari/e can be analyzed as approximately: 'a single unit of things fenced/walled in = city'.
  
  
  And, in much smaller measure, English fother {wagon-load};

  and in Urartian -ure/i, e.g. ag/y-ure/i, 'someone who leads', shidag/yure/i, 'someone who has built'.
  
  
  
  

  4. But it is in Elamo-Dravidian that PL RE functions vastly more extensively:

  
  
  a) as a ending for personal nouns (tuppira, 'scribe`);
  
  b) as a passive ending and third person singular pronoun (McAlpin 1981: 43 and 70); and
  
  c) seen again in Hittite (Sturtevant 1951: 141; 144; 145-148) 3)and in the so-called 'deponents` of various other IE languages (Brugmann 1881: IV, 572-9).

Sturtevant, Edgar H. 1951. A Comparative Grammar of the Hittite Language. New Haven: Yale University Press

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ADDITIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Patrick C. Ryan * 9115 West 34^th Street - Little Rock, AR 72204-4441* (501)227-9947
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