collective/perfective

[KULIKOV at RULLET.LEIDENUNIV.NL]

Dear Dr. Davis,
The development COLLECTIVE --> PERFECTIVE is typical of the Indo-European
verbal prefix * k'om- . Evidence and discussion can be found in an old (and,
I'm afraid, - alas! - forgotten) article: K. von Garnier, "COM- als
perfektivierendes Praefix bei Plautus, SAM- im Rigveda, CYN- bei Homer",
- Indogermanische Forschungen 25 (1909), 86-109. My expertise is
Vedic Sanskrit and I fully agree with v. Garnier as concerns Vedic data;
to that I can add evidence from Slavic (Old Church Slav. SUN-, Russian
[which is my native lang.] S-, etc.; cf. Rus. S''-EST' `to eat without leaving
anything'). I'm much interested in the meaning(s) of SAM- in Vedic and
in typological parallels, so I'll be glad to hear about your findings.

Sincerely Yours,

Leonid Kulikov
Rijksuniversiteit Leiden, Letteren, VTW
PO Box 9515
NL-2300 RA  Leiden
The Netherlands