R: [gothic-l] problems with evolution of Gothic vowel system

[Giuseppe Pagliarulo]

Philip (Filippus?) melida:
>
>The -is here has nothing to do with the genitive.  The Gmc. ending is
>*-ij-a-z, with the -j- suffix being an agent noun suffix, the -a-
being the
>thematic vowel and the -z being the regular nominative ending.  The
reason
>it shows up in Gothic as -eis is because the "a" vowel was regularly
lost in
>nominative singular masculine nouns (cf. Go. dags instead of Gmc.
*dagaz),
>and then the resulting -ij- between to consonants becoming a long
"i", which
>in Gothic is written "ei".

It's a bit more complicated, if I remember correctly. AFAIK things
must have developed this way:

*-ijaz > *-ij at z > *ijiz (by vowel harmony) > -eis.
and
*-jaz (after "light" syllables) > *-j at z > *-jiz > -jis.

Iosef Strawarila
  ________________________________________
                               Iþ gamain mis ist,
  hvaþro afleiþau; jainaþ auk aftra qima. (Parmainides)



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