dhaN 'past' in OP

[Koontz John E]

On Sat, 22 Jun 2002, Koontz John E wrote:

> I've been looking at =dhaN glossed "past" or "in the past" in the Dorsey
> texts.  I'd say that it can be glossed something like "used to," though
> this is not really in the glosses Dorsey offers.  He always says "in the
> past" or just "(past)."

I should point out that if I'm right about "used to" as a working gloss,
that this is a sort of past durative or imperfect.  If the gloss is
actually something more liek "once" then it would be an aorist or
preterite (or perfective).

> "... e'=di dha'=zhi=a he," ehe' dhaN', s^aN' s^i'              e'gaN, ...
>      there dont't go  DEC  I said PAST yet   you arrived there having
>
>      Don't go there, I [used to] say, and just as soon as you got there
>      ...
>
> 1890:17.9
>
> "Ppahe'=wadhahuni    ujna'=      khe= dhaN t?e'=adhe,"  a'=bi=  ama
>  Hill   he eats them you told it CONT PAST I killed him he said QUOT
>
> I have killed (the) Devouring Hill that you [used to] tell of," he said.
>
> 1890:28.17

On reflection, I have realized that khe (a positional auxiliary or
article)  here is not a continuative.  That is, even if Ppahe'=wadhahuni
or 'Devouring Hill' governs the khe 'the (lying)' form of the article, it
is not the subject here, and so khe isn't a continuative marker.  The
alternative (and more normal with inanimate articles) is an evidential
marker. though this seems a strange context for one.  If khe is
evidential, then this example shows khe and dhaN cooccurring, which would
argue that dhaN cannot be seen as an evidential itself.

Unfortunately, what I really have here is a deceptively simple sentence
that I don't understand the syntax of.

> "Ni'as^iNga=ama e'=di hi'=       hnaN=dhaN=di,
>  Person     the there he arrived only PAST LOC
>
> Note that in this last sentence Dorsey glosses =hnaN (modern =naN) as
> 'only' and elaborates by explaining 'only arrived' as 'arrived (as a
> rule)'.  English 'just' seems a good rendition.
>
> 1890:32.3-4

Note also that here we have s^naN ~ hnaN ~ naN cooccurring with dhaN,
showing that they are different.

JEK