Re: Wenedyk - Adjectives

On Thu, 12 Sep 2002 17:30:49 +0100 Jan van Steenbergen c'azdy:

> The comparative and superlative are built by adding the suffix
> -iór/-iora/-iore, the superlative by adding the suffix -ym/-yma/-yme
> to the
> root of the adjective:
> brzew "short", brzewiór "shorter", brzewym "shortest"
> k£ar "bright", k£arzór "brighter", k£arym "brightest".
>
> In some cases, the degrees of comparison are irregular:
> bon - mielór - optym "good - better - best"
> ma£ - piejór - pieszym "bad - worse - worst"
> mañ  - majór - maczym "big - bigger - biggest"
> parzew - mynor - mynym "small - smaller - smallest"
> wieczó£ - wieszczór - wieszczym "old - older - oldest"
> mu£cy - p£urze - p£urzyme "many/much - more - most"
> a£t - suprzór - suprzem "high - higher - highest"
>
> Any feedback is always appreciated.
What's the reason for using Classical Latin suffixes in degrees of
comparison?
|brzewiór| was rather lofty already in times of Cicero.
The same concerns choice of "vocabulae" (=vocabulary items, words).
I recognize |mañ|, |parzew|, |brzew| originating from Cl.L. _magnus_,
_parvus_, _brevis_, but Vu.L. didn't use them. I remember that "big" is
_grande_ and "short" is _curte_ (both from Germanic, IIRC). What's Vu.L. for
"small"? Maybe John Cowan knows?

> Especially when it comes to answering this question: does the way I
> changed
> Latin declension to Wenedyk look (at least a tiny little bit)
> acceptable?
It is (a tiny little bit) acceptable, though Slavic adjectives were
developping in a different way: in modern Western and Eastern Slavic langs,
adjective endings originate from fusion of standard noun endings ("a"-stems
for fem., "o"-stems for mesc. & neut.) and demonstrative pronoun! Later they
underwent certain simplification, but the process was like that:

masc.: novò (ò means "yery" -- back schwa) > novò+i > novyi > novyj (Ru.
stopped here) > nový (Cz. made one step more) > novy (Po. is progressive!);
fem.: nova > nova+ja > novaja (Ru.) > nová (Cz.) > nova (Po. & Uk.);
neut: novò > novò+je > novoje > nové > nove.

In oblique cases, e.g. Gen.masc. & neut.:
nova > nova+(j)go > novago > novogo (with further fricativisation in Ru. >
novovo) > novego (?, not sure) etc.

The same is true concerning "definite" declension in Serbian & Co.
"Indefinite" declension of adjectives there coincides with one of nouns. Ask
Ferko for details if interested! Though, Wenedyk works on the Western Slavic
area...

Keep on working! Veeeery interesting!

> Regards,
> Jan
Sövmekte,
Ysak (aka Yitzik)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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