IE pers.pron. (dual forms)

[Jens Elmegaard Rasmussen]

On Sat, 1 May 1999, Patrick C. Ryan wrote:

[...(On dual of nouns)]
> But this is not what Beekes is doing. On pp. 194-195 (comp. IE Ling.), he
> attempts to ascribe the common basis -*H{1}e to the animate consonant stems.

I wasn't targeting, but I do think the ending was *-e, not *-H1e. However,
proving lack of /H1/, the least stable of the laryngeals, is not easy,
and the rules may still hold surprises. Barring that, if the Skt. dual
sva'sa:rau 'two sister' is to continue an IE *swe'-sor-e (with -au for
expected *-a on the analogy of thematic stems), the *-o- must be in an
open syllable since it has come out long. Then -i: and -u: of i/u-stems
are analogical on the form -a: of the a-stems.

> He then proceeds to identify an inanimate (neuter) -*iH{1}.

He is right in that.

> I would maintain that the great majority of the (animate and inanimate)
> forms can be more simply from *-y.

Not the ones we find, if they are to be treated by the phonetic rules we
normally accept.

> > It even looks as if Beekes considers the IE languages more closely
> > related to each other than to Egyptian.
>
> Ha! But, of course, so do I.

Oh yeah? You have been known to act as if you didn't; as in:

[... (On the dual form of IE '8'):]
> Based on the Egyptian evidence, I prefer to see the -*(u) of *okto:(u) as a
> numeral-siffix rather than a dual. I am aware of several attempts to
> identify a 'four' root that might have served as a basis for a dual meaning
> 'eight' though, IMHO, they have not been successful.

[... (Vocalism of 'we two'):]
> Well, I thought it was generally accepted that stress-accent in an open
> syllable could be lengthened, and that stress-unaccented syllables are
> shortened. Have I just invented that?

I think you have.

[...]
> > Then what would be the enclitic form meaning "us two" in IE? */no:/
> > ending in a long vowel?

> I am going to pass the wand. What do you think it is?

I'm not that much of an oracle, but my guess is *noH3 which stands to the
accented form *nH3we' as does *nos to *nsme', and in parallel fashion
*woH3 for 'you two' : accented form *uH3we' (apparently dissimilated to
*uH3e') which would match the 2pl *wos : *usme' - provided /m/ develops
into /w/ in the position after the dual marker /H3/.

Jens