Greek question & the pre-history of *nekwt

Glen Gordon glengordon01 at hotmail.com
Wed Mar 17 01:04:27 UTC 1999


ME (GLEN):
 I know Hittite <nekuz> cannot be feminine since it doesn't have this
 gender thing. This is the neuter *-t/*-d found in words like *kwi-d
 "what" and the heteroclitic declension: [nom-acc] **yekwn-d > *yekwr
 "liver". Thus:

          **nekw-d > *nekw-t    TADAAAA!!!

MODERATOR:
 Hittite does not have a separate feminine, but it does have an
 opposition of common vs. neuter (or animate vs. inanimate).  Hittite
 _nekuz_ is of common gender, so I repeat the question:  What neuter?

MIGUEL:
 Or, put differently, what's the nominative -s doing in nekut-s?

Yes, I'm in deep error. I was starting to realise this when the
Anatolian form was spoken of like it was an animate noun. Whoops. There
goes my theory, down, down, CRASH!

--------------------------------------------
Glen Gordon
glengordon01 at hotmail.com



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