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Proto-Indo-European particles

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Template:PIE notice The particles of the Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) have been reconstructed by modern linguists based on similarities found across all Indo-European languages. The following article lists and discusses their hypothesized forms.

Adverbs

Adverbs used as adpositions

Many particles could be used both as adverbs and postpositions. This is similar to modern languages; compare English He is above in the attic (adverb) and The bird is above the house (preposition). The postpositions became prepositions in the daughter languages except Anatolian, Indo-Iranian and Sabellic; Latin and Greek preserve postpositions vestigially.[1]

Reflexes, or descendants of the PIE reconstructed forms in its daughter languages, include the following.

Particle Meaning Reflexes
*apo from Ved. ápa "away, forth", Gk. apó, Lat. ab "from", Alb. pa "without", Eng. of, off[2]
*de, *do to Gk. -de, Eng. to, Gm. zu, Lith. da-, OCS do
*epi / *opi near, at, upon, by Ved. ápi "by, on", Gk. epí "on", Lat. ob "on", Arm. ew "and",[2]

Av. aipi, Lith. api-, apie, Alb. afër "near"[citation needed]

*h₁ad to, by, at Lat. ad, Osc. adpúd, Umb. ař, Goth. at, ON at, Eng. æt/at, Gm. az/--, Ir. ad/do, Welsh add, Gaul. ad, Phryg. addaket, XMK addai[citation needed]
*(h₁?)en in Gk. en, Lat. in, Eng. in/in, Gm. in/in, īn/ein-, Welsh yn, Arm. i, Alb. në, OPruss. en, OCS vŭ(n)-,[2]

Luw. anda, Carian nt_a, Goth. in, ON í, Ir. in/i, Lith. į, Ltv. iekšā[citation needed]

*(h₁?)en-ter within, inside Ved. antár "between", Lat. inter "between, among", Gm. untar/unter "between, among" (see also *n̥dʰ-er below), Ir. eter/idir "between", Alb. ndër "between, in"[2], Pers. ændær "inside", SCr. unutar "within"
*h₂en / *h₂eno on, upon Av. ana, Gk. ano, Lat. in (in some cases), ON á, Goth. ana, Eng. an/on, Gm. ?/an, Lith. ant[citation needed]
*h₂euo off, away, down from Ved. ava, Lith. nuo[citation needed]
*h₂n̥-bʰi / *h₂m̥-bʰi around[3] (→ both) Ved. abhi, Av. aiwito, aibi, Pers. abiy/?, Gk. amphi, ON um, Eng. bi/by; ymbi/umbe (obsolete), Gm. umbi/um; ?/bei, Gaul. ambi, Ir. imb/um, Welsh am, Toch. āmpi/?, Alb. mbi, Lith. abu, OCS oba, Russ. ob[citation needed]
*kata / *km̥ta down Hitt. katta "with", Gaul. kanta "with", Gk. katá "down"[2]
*kom with Lat. cum, Ir. co/?[2]
*n̥dʰ-er under Ved. adhás, Av. aδairi, Lat. īnfr-ā, Eng. under/under, Arm. ənd,[2]

Pers. ?/zēr, ON und, Goth. undar, Gm. untar/unter, Arm. ĕndhup/ĕnthub[citation needed]

*ni down, under Ved. ní, Eng. ne-ther, Arm. ni, OCS ni-zŭ[2]
*nu now Hitt. nu, Luw. nanun, Ved. nū, OPers. nūra/?, Pers. æknun/konun/?, Gk. nun, Lat. nunc, ON nū, Goth. nu, Eng. nū/now, Gm. nu/nun, Toch. nuṃ/nano, Lith. nū, Ltv. nu, OPruss. teinu, OCS nu, Alb. tani, Arb. naní[citation needed] (but see the list of conjunctions below)
*pe with, together Hitt. pe-[citation needed]
*per(i) around, through Ved. pári "around, forth", Gk. perí "around", Lat. per "through", OPruss. per, Alb. për[2], Russ. pere- "through, over"
*per / *pero / *prō before, forth, in front of, ahead of Hitt. per, Ved. prā, Lat. per, prō, Eng. for/fore-, Gm. ?/vor, Lith. per, pro[citation needed], Alb. para, Pers. pær-/pæri-/par-, Russ. pered
*r̥ for (enclitic) Ved. r̥[citation needed]
*uper above Ved. upári, Gk. hupér, Lat. s-uper, Eng. over, Ir. for/fara, Arm. (i) ver "up"[2]

Alb. sipër

*up / *upo under, below Ved. úpa "up to", Gk. hupó "below", Lat. s-ub, Ir. fo/faoi,[2]

Hitt. upzi, Av. upa, Pers. upa/?, Umb. sub, Osc. sup, ON upp, Goth. iup, Eng. upp/up, Gm. uf/auf, Welsh go, Gaul. voretus, Toch. ?/spe, Lith. po[citation needed]

Untranslated reflexes have the same meaning as the PIE word.

In the following languages, two reflexes separated by a slash mean:

Negators

Two negators can be reconstructed, *ne and *mē, the latter only used for negative commands. The so-called privative prefix *n̥- is likely the zero grade of *ne.

Particle Meaning Reflexes
*ne sentence negator Ved. ná, Lat. nē/ne-, Eng. ne/no, Gm. ne/nein, Lith. nè, OCS ne,[4]

Hitt. natta, Luw. ni-, Lyc. ni-, Lyd. ni-, Av. na, Pers. na/?, Gk. ne-, Osc. ne, Umb. an-, ON né, Goth. ni, Ir. ní/ní, Welsh ni, Arm. an-, Toch. an-/en-, Ltv. ne, OPruss. ne, Pol. nie, Russ. ne, net, Alb. nuk[citation needed]

*n̥- privative prefix Hitt. am-, Ved. a(n)-, Gk. a(n)-, Lat. in-, Alb. e-, Eng. un-[4], Gm. un-
*mā negator for commands Ved. mā, Gk. mē (Doric mā)[4]

Alb. mos

Adverbs derived from adjectives

Adverbs derived from adjectives (like English bold-ly, beautiful-ly) arguably cannot be classified as particles. In Proto-Indo-European, these are simply case forms of adjectives and thus better classified as nouns. An example is *meǵh₂ "greatly", a nominative-accusative singular.[5]

Conjunctions

The following conjunctions can be reconstructed:[6]

Particle Meaning Reflexes
*kʷe and, word or phrase connector† Hitt. -ku, Ved. ca, Av. ca, Gk. te, Lat. -que, Celtib. kue
*wē or, word or phrase disjunctor† Ved. vā, Gk. -(w)ē, Lat. -ve
*de and, sentence connector Gk. dé, Alb. dhe, Russ. da "and; let it"
*nu and, sentence connector Hitt. nu, Ved. nú, Gk. nú, Toch. ?/nu, Ir. no-/?, OCS nŭ (but see the adverbs above)

†Placed after the joined word, as in Latin [[[SPQR|Senatus populus-que Romanus]]] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) ("Senate and people of Rome"), [-que] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) joining [senatus] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) and [populus] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help).

Interjections

There is only one PIE interjection which can be securely reconstructed, the second is tentative:[6]

Particle Meaning Reflexes
*wai! expression of woe or agony Hitt. uwai, Lat. vae, Welsh gwae, Breton gwa, Eng. woe, ON. vei[7], Pers. vai, Kurd. wai, Ved. uvē, Gk. aī, aī aī (woe!, alas!), Ltv. ai, vai
*ō! / *eh₃! (?) oh! Gk. ō[8], Lat. ō[9], Eng. oh!, Gm. oh!, Russ. o![10], Pers. e!

Notes

  1. ^ Fortson (2004:133–4)
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Fortson (2004:134)
  3. ^ Fortson (2004:239)
  4. ^ a b c Fortson (2004:133)
  5. ^ Fortson (2004:132–3)
  6. ^ a b Fortson (2004:134–5)
  7. ^ Geir T. Zoëga (1910). "A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic".
  8. ^ Schäfer & Zimmermann (1990:457)
  9. ^ Petschenig (1994:339)
  10. ^ Schenk (1998:&#91, page needed&#93, )

References

  • Fortson, Benjamin W., IV (2004), Indo-European Language and Culture, Blackwell Publishing, ISBN 1-4051-0316-7{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • Petschenig, M (1994), Der kleine Stowasser (in German), Vienna: Oldenbourg Schulbuchverlag, ISBN 3486134051
  • Schäfer, K-H; Zimmermann, B (1990), Taschenwörterbuch Altgriechisch (in German) (3 ed.), Munich: Langenscheidt, ISBN 3-468-10031-0
  • Schenk, W (1998), Handwörterbuch Russisch (in German), Munich: Langenscheidt, ISBN 3468072910
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