[B-Greek] Etymology
Jerker Karlsson
jerker.karlsson at kdu.se
Fri Mar 28 23:49:49 EST 2003
"Carl W. Conrad" <cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu> writes:
>It's not quite so simple as you've suggested, but it is in fact derived
>from the participle of the verb EINAI, ONT- with the formative feminine
>suffix -IA. The S is not part of the formative but a transformation of the
>participial stem -ONT-
>
>The phonological principles involved are that:
>
> (1) -T- + -I- --> -SI- (T assibilates before E or I)
> (2) -ONS- --> -OUS- (intervocalic -N- evanesces between vowel +
>-S-, but ordinarily the preceding vowel lengthens compensatorily; -O-
>lengthens to -OU-.
>
>These same principles are involved in the formation of the dative plural
>of
>ALL active participles with the additive element -NT-:
> -ONT-SI --> -ONSSI --> -ONSI --> -OUSI
Thanks for correcting my derivation (admit though, that it had the beauty
of simplicity :-).
If I have understood this right its not possible to point out the specific
gender of the participle that has undergone the transformation into a
regular noun, since all active participles has -NT- as the formative
element regardless their gender. The question of gender is of some
interest to me since Thyers lexicon points out EXON (i.e. neurt. ptc.) as
a possible origin of EXOUSIA, and EXOUSIA, like APOUSIA and PAROUSIA, is
most likely formed in analogy with the older OUSIA.
I'm also keen to know if it is significant that OUSIA was made from the
participle stem and not the active stem, i.e does it because of this
denote state rather than action. Looking at the examples above (APOUSIA,
PAOUSIA, OUSIA, EXOUSIA) the all seem to bear the notion of a state,
absence, presence, existence, *permitnce. Does this circumstantial nature
of these words derive from the fact that they all are taken from the
participle form or does it lie inherent in the stem ES itself?
Regards
/Jerker
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