More regarding "wa"

[Rory M Larson]

The issue of wa- prefixes in nouns that Tom and John
are discussing has perplexed me too, particularly in
parsing names for tools and other technical terms.
In my posting last week, I suggested that wa- might
refer to the subject as well as to objects.  What I
had in mind was this apparent use of wa- as a
nominalizer:

  wa-sabe = 'the one that is black'
  wa-s^abe = 'the one that is dark'
  wa-xube = 'the one that is holy'
  wa-z^iNga = 'the one that is small'
  wa-z^ide = 'the one that is red'

These are all stative verbs, but it looks as if
active verbs can be used in the same way:

  wa-nidhe = 'the one that heals'

And then there is the whole suite of implement terms
that are built on the framework of

  [NOM]-i-VERB

where /-i-/ is the instrumental that implies that
VERB is enacted by means of something.  Usually,
if a noun sits in front:

  NOUN-i-VERB

then the noun is the object of the verb's action.
Rarely, however, it seems that the noun can be
the head of the derived noun phrase, and implies
that the noun is used to perform the verbal action,
rather than that it is the object of the verbal
action.  I only have one example at the moment,
and it's not as clear as I would like.

  moNzezi-i-gattushi
  brass  -i-  explode
  'the brass thing that is used to explode'
  = 'gun cap'

As a caveat, it isn't certain that the internal
-i- exists; it might just be

  moNzezi-gattushi
  'exploding brass'

Assuming that such constructions do exist, however,
I'm inclined to think that the wa- in we- < *wa-i-
nouns is the head of the derived noun phrase, and
means 'that which is used to enact VERB'.

In fact, we can find up to three variants of the
same i-VERB nominalization.

  NOUN-i-VERB
  moNkkoNsabe-i-dhittube
  coffee     -i-   grind
  'coffee-grinder'

Here, 'coffee' is an object noun.

  i-VERB
  i-dhittube
  i-grind
  'coffee-grinder', literally 'grinder'

Finally, we can get the same thing with a wa-:

  wa-i-VERB
  wedhittube
  wa-i-grind
  'coffee-grinder'

But does this last construction mean

  'thing used to grind (things)'

or

  '(thing) used to grind things' ?

My gut feeling favors the first interpretation,
and I think our speakers have also favored that,
but it is really hard to find words that clearly
distinguish the matter.

Rory