Re: EAK nouns

R A Brown wrote:
> Benct Philip Jonsson wrote:
[snip]
>> One early 20th century Swedish linguist suggested that the relict Old
>>  Swedish genitive plural and weak genitive singular forms which
>> appear as initial parts of compounds may synchronicly be regarded as
>> a 'composition case',
On second thoughts I'm not sure that 'case' is the correct term, at
least as for as the Greek forms in -o- are concerned. I prefer to talk
of the "compositional base' (CB), i.e. the base used when forming
compounds. This base is _unmarked_ as to case (occasionally compounds
were formed in ancient Greek where the first noun is marked as to case;
then the actual case form is used, not the CB), and thus is appropriate
for EAK in which there will be no overt case marking.

>
>> This concept of 'composition case' may perhaps be applied to the
>> Greek -o- form as well. It may have appeared basic even to a WHAT
>> Paeanou, assuming that compounds be as frequent in WHAT Greek as in
>> OTL Greek.
>
> That it frequent in ancient Greek is justification enough, I think.
> Paeanou would want to adopt the stem or base; the 'compositional' form
> could be so considered.
Therefore I shall adopt the CB. Unfortunately, tho for most nouns this
means substituting -o instead of any case ending, there are/ were
exceptions. For example the nominative χοή (drink-offering) is retained
in the adjective χοηφόρος (offering χοαί to the dead); similarly the
nominative γενεά (race, family) is retained in the compound γενεαλογία
(tracing a family tree, genealogy). Also though 3rd decl. nouns
generally add -o, there are some exceptions. What I propose is:

[Note:
i. The stress accent is on the same vowel as the ancient pitch accent
(and of course EAK has no grammatical gender) - this applies to all
nouns of all three declensions.
ii. For convenience the ancient & Koine Greek words are printed
according to the modern monotonic use of diacritics, not the polytonic
of the Alexandrian grammarians and the Byzantines. The ancient Greeks of
course used neither system  :)
]

1ST DECLENSION
i. feminines (nom. -η, gen. -ης; nom. -α, gen. -ας; nom. -α, gen. -ης)
change the final vowel of the nominative, but:
	the nominative form is retained if the vowel is accented and follows
the low vowels ε, α or ο;
	γή (gen, γής) becomes γέω.

ii. masculines (nom. -ης, gen. ου;  nom. -ας, gen. -ου) change the -ου
of the genitive to -ο

2nd DECLENSION
Whether masc, or fem. (nom. -ος, gen. ου) or neuter (nom. -ον, gen. ου)
change the -ου of the genitive to -ο (or, if you prefer, drop the final
consonant of the nominative - it comes to the same thing).

Those nouns where the Attic dialect contracted both -εο- and -οο- to
-ου- we use the _uncontracted_ forms and apply the above rule, thus:
νούς / νόος (gen. νού/ νόου) ---> νόο   (mind, intellect cf. noology,
noogenesis)
οστούν/ οστέον (gen. οστού/ οστέου) ---> οστέο (bone, cf. osteopathy,
osteoporosis)

Those words of the so-called 'Attic declension' with nominatives in -ως
and genitive in -ω, shall:
i. if they terminate in -εως in Attic, but in -αος in Koine, use the
Koine form and follow the normal rule for 2nd decl.; e.g. λαό (people),
ναό (temple);
ii. otherwise the EAK form is identical to the genitive (nom. without
final -ς), e.g. λαγώ (hare)


3RD DECLENSION
If the genitive ends in -ος and has _no contracted alternative_ (e.g. is
not like γένος whose genitive may be γένεος _or_ γένους), then we just
drop the final -ς of the genitive for the EAK form (and take the
accentuation of the genitive form if different from the nominative).
This in fact covers the vast majority of nouns, whether masculine,
feminine or neuter. The only exception to this shall be the three* nouns
whose stems end in a diphthong; they shall use the plain stem, i.e. the
nominative without final -ς, thus:
βούς (gen. βοός) ---> βου   "ox"
γραυς (gen. γραός) --->  γραυ  "old woman"
ναύς (gen. νεώς) --->   ναυ  "ship"
(The EAK forms have no accent because they are monosyllables)
* οίς  (gen. οιός)  "sheep" is deprecated in favor of πρόβατο   <---
from the more common ancient word πρόβατον "sheep"

The neuters in in -ος (with genitive -ους) shall drop the -ς of the
nominative to give the EAK form, e.g. γένο  (stock, kin, breed, type,
sort), τείχο (city-wall, fortified wall).

Those nouns whose nominatives end in -ις , -υς  or, if neuter, υ  AND
have genitive in -εως shall use the nominative without the final -ς in
the case of masculines or feminines, e.g.
πόλις (gen. πόλεως) --->   πολι  "city"
πήχυς  (gen. πήχεως) --->   πήχυ  "forearm, cubit"
άστυ  (gen. άστεως) --->   άστυ  "town"
(But those with genitives in -ος obey the general rule above, so e.g.
ιχθύο "fish", μυό "mouse")

The few nouns that end in -ω in the nominative, with genitive in -ους
shall have EAK form identical to the nominative, e.g.
πειθώ "persuasion"
ηχώ  "echo"

Words like κέρας "horn" which has both a regularly formed gen. κέρατος
and a contracted κέρως shall form their EAK noun from the regularly
formed genitive, i.e. κέρατο

UNDECIDED 3RD DECL. FORMS
Nouns in -ευς, with genitives in -εως, like βασιλεύς  "king" and ιερεύς
"priest", will probably use the nominative without final -ς, but ancient
Greek practice is not clear on this.

The neuter nouns  κρέας (gen. κρέως) "meat" have compounds formed with
κρεα-, κρεο- and κρεω-. It is not helped by the fact the manuscripts
themselves confuse forms. But κρεω-seems to be the more common form the
EAK noun for "meat" is likely to be  κρέω (rather than κρέα)

ύδωρ  (gen. ύδατος) "water" should give EAK  ύδατο, and indeed υδατ(ο)-
is used for some compounds in ancient Greek and in English _hydathode,
hydatid, hydatoid_. But by far the most common form in ancient Greek
compounds is υδρ(ο)- just as by far the common form in English hydr(o)-
. Therefore it seems to me that probably the EAK noun for "water" should
be ύδρο even tho it's not derived regularly from the declined noun.

Comments?

BTW - under the above scheme, "womb" and "mother" will not be strict
homophones, as "womb" will be μήτρο  but mother will be μητρό (different
stress).

--
Ray
==================================
ray@carolandray.plus.com
http://www.carolandray.plus.com
==================================
Nid rhy hen neb i ddysgu.
There's none too old to learn.
[WELSH PROVERB}

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