Re: Dune Conlang

> Date:         Thu, 11 Nov 1999 14:20:51 +0100
> From: "Grandsire, C.A." <grandsir@...>
>=20
> FFlores wrote:
> > How do you break _gesserit_ down? It looks absolutely non-Latin to me!
> > (Plus, how do you *pronounce* it?)
>         For me, it looks like an indicative pluperfect (from a third
> conjugation verb, with irregular past) or something like this (maybe a
> subjunctive imperfect). But my Latin classes are far away and it's just
> a feeling. Ray, you're back now. Help us!
Subjunctive perfect is better. Lewis & Short have this to say:

  gero, gessi, gestum (Part. gen. plur. sync. gerentum, Plaut. Truc.
  2.1.13; imper. ger, like dic, duc, fac, fer, Cat. 27.2), 3, v. a.
  [root gas-, to come, go; Zend, jah, jahaiti, come; gero (for geso),
  in caus. sense, to cause to come; cf. Gr. bastaz=F4, from bastos =3D
  gestus], to bear about with one, to bear, carry, to wear, have (in
  the lit. signif. mostly poet., not in Cic., C=E6s., Sall., or Quint.;
  but instead of it ferre, portare, vehere, sustinere, etc.; but in
  the trop. signif. freq. and class.).

Another dictionary says

  gero (1) gerere gessi gestum. Lit. (1) [to carry , bear]; esp. [to
  wear]. (2) [to bear, give birth to]. Transf., [to carry about,
  display an appearance]; 'personam gerere', [to act a part]; 'se
  gerere', [to conduct oneself (with adv.); to carry about, entertain
  a feeling; to carry on, conduct, manage business]; 'res gestae',
  [exploits, esp. warlike exploits].

The breakdown is something like ges- s-   es- i-   t,
                                stem-PERF-EXT-THEM-ACT/1S.

The verb conjugation in Latin has been heavily remodeled from its IE
precursors, and it is hard to say what the various bits meant
originally; in the system as found, you just have to accept that this
combination of bits means subj. perf.

PERF -s- is originally an aorist marker.

The 'EXT' -es- is found in the active system in ind. plusq. and subj.
perf, imperf., and plusq. (twice); it may originally have been the
root -es ("is") that got tucked in there.

THEM is the thematic vowel that glues the stem to the ending. It is
either -i-, -a-, or -e- depending on conjugation and tense, but it
doesn't decide tense by itself.

Finally, the ending indicates active voice, person and number.

Pronounce /"ges:erit/.

(In case you are wondering, the stem form ger- in present and
infinitive is due to -s- > -r- between vowels).

>         By the way, is there somewhere an online grammar of Latin? (with =
if
> possible even the actual phonology (-ies) of Latin, length marked of
> words and everything possible)
Try <URL:http://perseus.csad.ox.ac.uk>. Dictionaries and morphological
analysers for Greek and Latin under 'Text Tools & Lexica', and Allen
and Greenough's classic grammar (including the chapters on prosody)
hidden under 'Essays & Catalogs'. And lots of texts to try it all out
on.

Other resources at <URL:http://www.nd.edu/~archives/latgramm.htm>,
including the unnamed dictionary that gave me the second definition
above.

Have fun.

Lars Mathiesen (U of Copenhagen CS Dep) <thorinn@...> (Humour NOT marke=
d)