Personal Pronouns

[Patrick C. Ryan]

Dear Brent and IEists:

 ----- Original Message -----
From: Brent J. Ermlick <brent at bermls.oau.org>
Sent: Wednesday, May 19, 1999 5:39 AM

> Patrick C. Ryan wrote:

> > Do not confuse dependence with function. "I myself am going". Is "myself"
> > not a nominative depending on another nominative?

> In this sentence "myself" is indeed a nominative in apposition to "I",
> but it doesn't correspond to the reflexive meaning meaning of
> PIE *se. Here "I myself" has an emphatic meaning, somewhat like
> Greek "ego:ge".

> *se, on the other hand, always refers back to the subject of the clause;
> this usage is retained in all reflexes that I know of.

Yes, it is certainly the commonest employment but Pokorny does list
"abseits, getrennt, fu{"}r sich" before "Reflexivpronomen"; and, as for an
example of the usage I suggested, Pokorny mentions Albanian:

une{"} vete{"}, I myself; ai vete{"}, he himself; vet, his/her (own).

And Pokorny also mentions OI sve:-vi:ss, 'stubborn', which seems to
incorporate a non-reflexive use also (if reflexive, the meaning would
probably be something like '(self-)insightful'??).

Now, I suppose it is always possible to attempt to explain these examples in
some other way.

Pat

PATRICK C. RYAN (501) 227-9947; FAX/DATA (501)312-9947 9115 W. 34th St.
Little Rock, AR 72204-4441 USA WEBPAGES:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/2803 and PROTO-RELIGION:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/2803/proto-religion/indexR.html "Veit
ek, at ek hekk, vindga meipi, nftr allar nmu, geiri undapr . . . a ~eim
meipi er mangi veit hvers hann af rstum renn." (Havamal 138)