Re: Dievas dave dantis; Dievas duos duonos

I realise I should have given an interlinear and notes for this
exercise, as there are a number of interesting things going on:

Tehhewas-cas tomtahaams-tas toohit-he : tehhewas-cas taamtar-tan taahti

tehhewas: common gender noun; god, spirit [*deiwo-]
tomtax: common gender -x class noun; tooth [*dont-] The -x class
        contains nouns that are nominal participles. Apparently,
        *dont- obtained a verbal usage early in Talarian history, and
        was later renominalised.
taahem: a verb of the athematic class; give [*doo-]
taamtar: neuter gender noun; meat, lit. a godly gift [*doo-]
-cas, -tas: demonstrative indicators [*ho-, *to-]
-he: technically a conjunction; and [*-kwe]

Tehhewas is nominative singular in both instances.  Tomtahaams is
accusative plural; taamtar is accusative singular. Both tomtax and
taamtar are deverbal nouns. Tomtax comes from a nominalised
participal;  while taamtar is a verbal noun (anciently in -om).

Taahti is 3rd singular present aorist; toohit is 3rd singular past
aorist. Taahti has the strong grade of root vowel ablaut, while toohit
has the weak grade: athematic verbs have an ablaut shift going from
singular to dual/plural in the present (due to a shift of accent from
root to ending); but have all weak grade ablaut in the past
(regardless of accent placement).

The -cas and -tas indicate a kind of relationship between the
interlocutors and the objects being discussed. Generally, -cas is used
to indicate a kind of objective nearness, in this case making God the
primary topic. -tas is used to indicate a kind of objective distance,
in this case relegating teeth and meat to a subordinate place. The
difference between "Tehhewas-cas tomtahaams-tas toohit" and
"Tehhewas-tas tomtahaams-cas toohit" is something like the use of
emphasis in English: "GOD gave teeth", where God is the central focus;
and "God gave TEETH", where the focus shifts over to the thing given.

Padraic.