ATHEMATIC INFLECTION IN THE LATIN PRESENT SYSTEM by STEPHEN L. TYNDALL (Under the direction of Jared Klein) ABSTRACT This thesis examines the six irregular Latin verbal paradigms in their present and future tenses, attempting to explain their irregularity. The forms are traced from their Proto-Indo-European roots through Proto-Italic and Old Latin into their classical forms, with considerable analysis based in both phonology and analogy provided. The copula, in particular, is examined in a number of Indo- European languages, and explanations for irregularity in analogy, haplology, and poetic elision are explored. INDEX WORDS: Latin, Linguistics, Proto-Italic, Proto-Indo-European, Historical Linguistics ATHEMATIC INFLECTION IN THE LATIN PRESENT SYSTEM by STEPHEN L. TYNDALL B.A., The University of Georgia, 2004 A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS ATHENS,GEORGIA 2009 c 2009 Stephen L. Tyndall All Rights Reserved ATHEMATIC INFLECTION IN THE LATIN PRESENT SYSTEM by STEPHEN L. TYNDALL Approved: Major Professor: Jared Klein Committee: Keith Langston Bill Kretzschmar Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia May 2009 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES ..................................... vi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ................................. 1 1.1 PROBLEMATIC PARADIGMS ....................... 2 2 THE PROTO-INDO-EUROPEAN PRESENT INDICATIVE .............. 4 2.1 THE PERSONAL ENDINGS OF THE INDO-EUROPEAN PRESENT ACTIVE . 4 2.2 THE PRESENT TENSE .......................... 5 2.3 THE SUBJUNCTIVE ............................ 10 3 THE LATIN PRESENT SYSTEM .......................... 12 3.1 THE TENSES OF THE PRESENT SYSTEM . 12 3.2 THE PERSONAL ENDINGS ........................ 12 3.3 THE SYSTEM OF CONJUGATIONS .................... 13 4 LATIN dare ‘TO GIVE’ .............................. 17 5 LATIN ¯ıre ‘TO GO’ ................................ 19 5.1 THE SINGULAR .............................. 19 5.2 THE PLURAL ............................... 20 5.3 THE FUTURE AND IMPERFECT OF ¯ıre . 21 6 LATIN ferre ‘TO BEAR’.............................. 22 7 LATIN esse¯ ‘TO EAT’............................... 25 7.1 THE PROBLEM OF VOWEL LENGTH ................... 25 iv v 7.2 THE VERBAL ENDINGS ......................... 27 7.3 es¯ ‘YOU EAT’............................... 27 7.4 est¯ ‘EATS’................................. 27 7.5 estis¯ ‘YOU(PL.) EAT’........................... 28 7.6 PARALLELS TO SLAVIC .......................... 28 7.7 CONCLUSIONS .............................. 28 8 LATIN velle ‘TO WISH/WANT’ .......................... 30 8.1 THE ROOT *welH1- ............................ 30 8.2 THE THEMATIC FORMS OF velle ..................... 31 8.3 vult ‘WISHES’............................... 32 8.4 v¯ıs ‘YOU WISH’.............................. 32 8.5 vultis ‘YOU(PL.) WISH’.......................... 33 9 LATIN esse ‘TO BE’................................ 34 9.1 A DISCUSSION OF PRIOR WORK ..................... 34 9.2 A NOVEL AND UNITARY APPROACH TO THE PARADIGM . 41 10 CONCLUSIONS .................................. 44 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................... 45 LIST OF TABLES 1.1 A List of Possible Athematic Latin Paradigms - Present Tense . 2 1.2 A List of Possible Athematic Latin Paradigms - Future Tense . 2 2.1 The Primary Endings of the Present Active . 5 2.2 The Secondary Endings of the Present Active . 5 2.3 An Example of an Athematic Narten Present . 6 2.4 The Athematic Nasal Infix Present . 7 2.5 The Athematic Reduplicated Present . 7 2.6 The Simple Thematic Present . 8 2.7 Thematic Present Types . 10 2.8 The PIE Subjunctive . 11 3.1 The Latin First Conjugation . 14 3.2 The Latin Second Conjugation . 14 3.3 The Latin Third Conjugation . 16 3.4 The Latin Fourth Conjugation . 16 4.1 The Present Paradigm of dare ‘to give’ . 17 5.1 The Present of ¯ıre ................................... 19 5.2 The Future and Imperfect of ¯ıre ............................ 21 6.1 The Latin Paradigm of ferre ............................. 22 6.2 The Present of *bher in Sanskrit and Greek . 23 7.1 The Present of esse¯ ‘to eat’ . 25 7.2 The Root *ed ‘eat’ in PIE and Pre-Latin . 26 7.3 The Old Church Slavic Present Paradigm of ‘to eat’ . 28 8.1 The Paradigms of velle, malle, and nolle ....................... 30 vi vii 8.2 The Present Paradigm of v¯ı .............................. 32 9.1 The Latin Present and Future of esse ......................... 34 9.2 The PIE Copula, Present and Subjunctive . 35 9.3 The Greek Thematic Verb . 41 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION The Proto-Indo-European athematic verbal category is almost entirely absent in the Italic verbal system. Six (or nine, counting derived contractions) Italic verbs are generally thought to contain remnants of Indo-European athematic inflectional morphology, but the structures of these verbs are often unexpected, given the postulated Proto-Indo-European original forms. This thesis attempts to provide an accurate diachronic analysis of these forms, in some instances relying on prior research and analysis while presenting some new solutions to the problems these unexpected forms offer. The first part of this thesis provides a description of the present system of the Proto-Indo- European verb in its various inflectional patterns, an understanding of which is critical for compre- hension of the Proto-Italic and Latin morphological systems discussed in this work. The second part of this thesis provides a description of the present system of the Latin verb, including the division of the Proto-Indo-European types into the four Latin conjugations, as an understanding of the regular Latin morphological system is crucial for understanding the structure and history of the irregular forms. The third part of this thesis describes the treatment of Proto-Indo-European athematic presents that have been added to the regular Latin verbal system. The fourth and largest section of this thesis is broken into synchronic and diachronic descrip- tions of the five irregular Latin verbs. The thesis concludes with a discussion of the similarities and differences between the irregular paradigms of Latin, with tentative explanations of the reasons for retention of and similarity in their irregularities. 1 2 Table 1.1: A List of Possible Athematic Latin Paradigms - Present Tense Person and Number esse velle ferre ¯ıre edere dare First Singular sum volo¯ fero¯ eo¯ edo¯ do¯ Second Singular es v¯ıs fers ¯ıs es¯ das¯ Third Singular est vult fert it est¯ dat First Plural sumus volumus ferimus ¯ımus edimus damus Second Plural estis vultis fertis ¯ıtis estis¯ datis Third Plural sunt volunt ferunt eunt edunt dant Table 1.2: A List of Possible Athematic Latin Paradigms - Future Tense Person and Number esse velle ferre ¯ıre edere dare First Singular ero¯ volam feram ¯ıbo¯ edam dabo¯ Second Singular eris voles¯ feres¯ ¯ıbis edes¯ dabis Third Singular erit volet feret ¯ıbit edet dabit First Plural erimus volemus¯ feremus¯ ¯ıbimus edemus¯ dabimus Second Plural eritis voletis¯ feretis¯ ¯ıbitis edetis¯ dabitis Third Plural erunt volent ferent ¯ıbunt edent dabunt 1.1 PROBLEMATIC PARADIGMS 1.1.1 EO¯ ‘I GO’ The paradigm of eo¯ ‘I go’ has four athematic forms, ¯ıs, it, ¯ımus, and ¯ıtis, and two thematic forms, eo¯ and eunt, and is the least problematic of the Latin irregular verbs, probably because of the lack of phonotactic problems engendered by the shape of the root. 3 1.1.2 FERO¯ The paradigm of fero¯ ‘I bear’ has three seemingly-athematic forms fers, fert, and fertis, though almost all comparative evidence suggests a simple thematic etymon for the paradigm. The irregular forms are analyzed as reduced, either via a regular phonetic process or via phonetic reduction based on frequency of use. 1.1.3 edo¯ ‘I EAT’ The paradigm of edo¯ ‘I eat’ contains three athematic forms es¯ , est¯ , and estis¯ , and three thematic forms edo¯, edimus, and edunt. A curious alternation in root vowel quantity between e˘- in the first person singular and first and third persons plural and e¯ in the second and third persons singular and second person plural is the focus of this section. 1.1.4 volo¯ ‘I WISH’ The paradigm of volo¯ ‘I wish,’ is irregular in three indicative forms v¯ıs, vult, and vultis, and appears to have a historically athematic Latin subjunctive (i.e. optative in Indo-European terms) paradigm. The second person singular v¯ıs is the most anomalous form of the paradigm and is discussed at length. 1.1.5 sum ‘I AM’ The paradigm of the copula is the least understood and most contentious of the irregular Latin verbs. This thesis contains a large literature review, and an original, strong suggestion for the history of this paradigm. 1.1.6 do¯ ‘I GIVE’ While only modestly irregular by synchronic Latin standards, the paradigm of do¯ ‘I give’ shows remnants of athematic inflection. CHAPTER 2 THE PROTO-INDO-EUROPEAN PRESENT INDICATIVE The Present System of Indo-European is composed of the present indicative and imperative, the imperfect, the active and medio-passive voices, and the subjunctive and optative moods. The present and imperfect active indicative and the active subjunctive will be treated in this section. The Indo-European verb is composed of three parts, a root, zero or more suffixes, and a personal ending. 2.1 THE PERSONAL ENDINGS OF THE INDO-EUROPEAN PRESENT ACTIVE Proto-Indo-European present active verbs had two sets of personal endings, the primary and sec- ondary endings. Primary endings were used