Re: Standard Average European (was: case system)
| From: | René Uittenbogaard <ruittenb@...> |
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| Date: | Sunday, April 13, 2008, 23:32 |
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2008/4/13, Eric Christopherson <rakko@...>:
> On Apr 13, 2008, at 7:29 AM, J. 'Mach' Wust wrote:
>
> I read somewhere that at one time the possessive suffix <'s> was
> reinterpreted as being a contraction of <his>; some grammarians at that
> time thus commented that it was illogical to use <'s> for a female
> possessor, preferring something like "the queen her crown". I think
> they also sometimes expanded the "contraction", writing things like
> "the king his castle". I'm not sure how they treated inanimate
> possessors. In any event, that analysis of <'s> didn't last.
This is exactly what is currently done in Dutch.
de koning z'n kasteel
the king his castle
de koningin d'r hoed
the queen her hat
These are very, very common. The only real alternative is:
het kasteel van de koning
the castle of the king
de hoed van de koningin
the hat of the queen
I'm not even sure if the following are correct.
They are practically never heard:
?de konings (koning's?) kasteel
?de koningins (koningin's?) hoed
This is only done with proper names or in actual genitives:
Johns kasteel
John's castle
des konings kasteel
the.GEN king-GEN castle (archaic)
René