Re: YAEGT: 's (was Re: Standard Average European (was: case system))

On 14/04/08 23:49:18, J. 'Mach' Wust wrote:

> >> Actually, a contraction of "his", later generalized to the
> >> feminine, seems a more likely origin of _'s_ to me than the
> >> Old English (< PIE) genitive suffix _-s_.  Modern English _'s_
> >> is a clitic attaching to the last element of the genitive NP
> >> (see _the King of England's castle_) rather than a true suffix;
> >> and clitics usually form from words and not from suffixes.
> >
> >That is an interesting point, but doesn't explain why the masculine
> and
> >feminine are the same.
>
> But the genitive doesn't either -- unless the Old English genitive
> was
> very
> different from the modern German one. In modern German, feminine
> genitives
> don't feature the s-ending. The s-ending is only found on masculines
> and neutra.
No, the Old English genitive was -es/-es/-e/-a (M/N/F/pl), same (wrt
-s) as modern German (based on Wikipedia). But the Nominative/
Accusative plural ending was -as only in the masculine; in the neuter
and feminine it was -u/- and -a/-e respectively. It is clear that in
English all nouns basically became masculine. Someone with a better
knowledge of the timing of everything and Middle English might also be
able to provide some evidence that possessive -s had already
generalised to all numbers and all genders before it had cliticised.

BTW: In English the words is thoroughly anglicised: neuter, not
neutrum.

--
Tristan.