Re: Infinitives

At 11:05 am +0200 28/3/00, BP Jonsson wrote:
>At 19:44 27.3.2000 +0100, Raymond Brown wrote:
>> >
>> >Roughly, 'I want that I (should) go'.
>>
>>Exactly: 'Telo  na   'pao   (T = theta)
>>          I-want that I_go [aorist subjunctive]
>>
>>Some other examples:
>>Den bo'rume na   'pame  'simera
>>not we-can  that  we_go today    (we can't go today)
>>
>>    'prepi       na   Dja'vasete af'to to  viv'lio
>>it_is_necessary that   you_read  this the book
>>(you must read this book)
>
>What is _na_ derived from, in classical Greek terms?  It looks like a
>preposition borrowed part and parcel from Slavic.
Not Slav - it's from the Classical 'hina'.

>Also, it occurs from your first example that there is still a full form of
>_Thelo_ "I want", in spite of the future marker _tha_, which AFAIK is from
>the same source.
This is true.  _tha_ is from 'thelo na', theli na' etc.  But the full verb
also survives.



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A mind which thinks at its own expense
will always interfere with language.
                   [J.G. Hamann 1760]
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