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Re: Medio-passive (was: A Survey)

From:Costentin Cornomorus <elemtilas@...>
Date:Tuesday, October 7, 2003, 1:18
--- Ray Brown <ray.brown@...> wrote:

> The PIE medio-passive _participle_ survived in > a fossalized form > in the Latin 2nd plural passive ending -mini: > (<-- -menoi), but > none of medio-passive tenses survived
Sihler gives other possible explanations for that ending. Personally, I like the idea of the middle pple either surviving or being borrowed.
> and AFAIK none survived in > other Italo-Celtic nor the Germanic ones (need > to check on the Slav & Baltic groups.
It was imported into Kerno from Greek.
> It seems best attested in ancient Greek > and the Aryan branch of IE. On the other hand > the -r passive/ > impersonal active has no counterpart in ancient > Greek or the aryan langs.
I couldn't pin down where the -r comes from, but Sihler seems to be saying that Greek et al. substituted it for -y. I guess, -tai in stead of *-tar in Greek.
> I seem to recall that there is a theory that > Pre-PIE had an ergative structure.
I've heard the same. Given how interesting IH is when compared to IE, then I'd say the parent language was quite curious indeed. Padraic. ===== - Ke goueneremos dois Noeves, lis Apossoeil et lis Martheir; ke merite-nos la perdunació per y sew oriacèn - A Ddon ten mezer! -- Ill Bethisad -- <http://www.geocities.com/elemtilas/ill_bethisad> Come visit The World! -- <http://www.geocities.com/hawessos/> .