Re: verbal classifiers

This sounds so much like Irish... and even English.  In old Irish
(and perhaps modern... haven't studied it), the verb "bear" took
on so many diverse meanings depending on what prefix you
attached to it.  Consider English "put" as well.  Put up, put up with,
put out, put on, put by, etc.   I think this is actually a very familiar
structure in languages across the board.

Sally


> Pablo wrote:
>
> This immediately reminded me of Georgian preverbs,
> tho their have a different function and are more
> restricted. I quote:
>
>  The primary function of the preverb is to indicate
>  direction when used with verbs of motion. It  has
>  the secondary functions of indicating the perfective
>  aspect, and of changing the basic meaning of a verb
>  stem. The preverb has also acquired additional functions
>  which are not considered here. The more common preverbs
>  with their directional meanings are: mi- ('hither'),
>  mo- ('thither'), a(gh)- ('up'), ga(n)- ('out, away, off'),
>  ga(r)da- ('over, across, through'), da- ('down'), she-
>  ('in'), cha- ('(in and) down'), ts'a(r)- ('away, off').
>  Compound preverbs, formed by adding -mo- to any but the
>  first two in this list, result in a reversal of direction
>  from 'away from' the speaker to 'towards' the speaker.
>  Examples of the use of directional preverbs are mi-di-s
>  ('he goes'), gad-mo-tsur-a ('he swam across to here')
>  (the final -a of gada- is dropped before -mo-).
>
>  Preverbs can qualify the basic meaning of a verb root
>  and, on occasions, the resulting verbs may have apparently
>  totally unrelated meanings, e.g. cha-rt-av-s ('he will
>  switch it on'), mo-rt-av-s ('he will decorate it'),
>  she-rt-av-s ('he will marry him to her', 'he will mix
>  it with it').
>
> --Pablo Flores