Disputatio:Casus genetivus
E Vicipaedia
[recensere] Theseus-Periander
Theseus numquam vixit Corinthi. Propterea pro Theseo substitui Periandrum, Corinthi tyrannus. --Fabullus 11:21, 3 Maii 2007 (UTC)
[recensere] De origine formae genetivi
Genetivus or genitivus? Both seem to be in use, but genetivus is overwhelmingly more frequent than genitivus, and besides, genetivus appears to be far earlier attested. How to explain genetivus in terms of historical phonology? Well, given the well-known Lautgesetz of Medial Vowel Weakening (MVW), the form generated by Latin historical grammar should be genitivus (cf. genitor from earlier *gene-tor, genitum from *gene-tum, genitalis from *gene-ta-li-s, and so on), yet what we actually have is genetivus as an exception to MVW. The best explanation, imo, is the following one, given by Manu Leumann: "In genetīvus ..., dēfetīgāre (mit e aus a) und in sepelīre scheint die Bewahrung des e der zweiten Silbe durch die Vokalfolge e – e – ī zu sein ... (Lateinische Laut- und Formenlehre [München: Beck 1977], 84). Also (this is German :-), Leumann suggests a prosodic explanation, according to which the prosodic gestalt e - e - ī appears to have been resistant to the (sociohistorical process summarised by) MVW. This is why we have genetrīx (< gene-trīc-s) but genitor (< *gene-tōr) . (By the way, were genetivus based on gens, gentis, the result would be **gentivus.) As to the (late) variant genitivus, I suspect it has been somehow refashioned by reflecting on the fact that all the names for Latin cases have been formed by attaching -ivus to the supine stem of verbs, viz. nomino : nominatum : nominat-ivus; accuso : accusatum : accusat-ivus; do : datum : dat-ivus; aufero : ablatum : ablat-ivus; gigno : genitum (< *gene-tum by MVW) : genit-ivus. I suggest the first line should be deleted and rewritten along the lines above. --Neander 01:40, 14 Maii 2007 (UTC)