Re: Possession and genitivity

Ray Brown wrote:
> In Latin the genitive is used for the object of certain verbs (probably
> development of the partitive use):
> 1. verbs of 'filling' and 'lacking' - complere (to fill), abundare (to ),
> egere (to lack), indigere (), carere ();
> 2. verbs of remembering, and forgetting - mimenisse (tui memini "I
> remember you"), oblivisci (to forget); the verb 'misereri' (to pity) also
> governs the genitive.
(What about "miserere nobis"-- or is that Later (Church) Latin?)

I probably knew that list 50 years ago as a schoolboy ;-)); so apparently it
was lingering in the memory banks when I got to Kash.  These verbs take
their DO in the genitive case:
kendra 'worship'
teçayu 'yearn, long for'
inga 'to lack, have no...' and as prep. 'without'
orana 'to resemble'
(in Old Kash, _umit_ 'to use' also took the genitive; but now takes the
accusative)

nimbur 'remember' and cuta 'forget' take the genitive when referring to
long-term, firmly imprinted memory and total forgetting, respectively--

yunda minimbutro lerowi ya 'We shall always remember that day'
mende macuta arani kaçiyi ya 'I have (totally forgotten/put out of my mind)
that person's name'

but with an ordinary acc/dat DO, refer to more temporary
memory/forgetfulness:

aka hanimbur etengiti? 'Did you remember [to bring] your book?'
maturo, macuta arandi 'I'm sorry, I've forgotten your name' (the sort of
thing you might say at a big party....)

The genitive can also express the agent/cause of the essentially passive
"accidental" verb-form:

ne caka/sisa minayi
he-dat ACCID/love mina-gen
He is desperately/obsessively in love with Mina.

me caka/çangi endaki yu rus
me-dat. ACCID/sick meat-gen. that mouldy
I got sick from that mouldy meat

ne ca/lipakañu keyopori
he-dat ACCID/mind.control alien-gen.
He is under the mind-control of an alien

Reply