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§ 82.

Stem-formation.

From roots arise word-stems (themes), i.e. that part of a word which remains after we have taken away the terminations of conjugation and declension. Stems are formed:

1. By the bare root raised or not. Since the root vowel occupies a certain step in the sound-scale, it may always appear as the substratum of a certain relation, and thus even by itself express a relation. This often happens in the case of verbs, e.g. ai-, i-, present-stem and root (go), 1 sg. ai-mi, 1 pl. i-masi; as-, present-stem and root (be), e.g. 1 sg. as-mi, 3 sg. as-ti, etc. This kind of stem-formation is less common in the case of nouns, e.g. n. sg. dyau-s, loc. div-i; dyau-, a raised-form from dyu div (shine), is here a noun-stem (heaven), and likewise a root; vāk-s (speech), stem vāk-, is a step-form from √vak (speak), etc. The expression of relativity by means of step-formation of the root-vowel is symbolical. Moreover the reduplication of the root (with or without simultaneous step-formation), for the purpose of expressing relativity, is of very early date, and, . like the simple root, suffices to form a stem, e.g. stem da-da- in da-da-mi, 1 sg. pres.; da-da-masi, 1 pl. pres., √da (give).

2. By additions made to the end of a simple or reduplicated root whatever step-formation it may occupy. These additions were (as we remarked in § 81) originally independent roots, which, at an earlier period of development in the life of the language, when the language consisted of roots alone, came to be joined to other roots as defining elements; these roots expressing relation gradually lost their independence, and became welded on to those roots which they helped to define more accurately, e.g. daiv-a, n. sg. daiva-s (diuos, deus), √div raised daiv, +a; bhāra-ya-, causative-stem fr. bhar (bhāraya-ti he makes to bear), cf. a (pron. demonstr.), ya (relat.); vak-ta-, n. sg. masc. vak-ta-s (dictus), √vak+ta, cf. √ta (pron. dem.); vi(d) vid-vant-, pf. part. act. of reduplicated √vid (see)+vant, etc. Most of these stem-formative elements can be traced as

roots of general and weakened function, that is, as pronominal § 82. roots (thus e.g. a, i, u, ya, ta, ka, etc.).

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Note.-By a hyphen we indicate that the element with which it is used is always in that very place joined to another. Stem-formative suffixes are accordingly to be known by - at the beginning and end, word-formative sff. by - at the beginning (e.g. vark-a-s with sff. -a- and -8). The roots may, we think, be left uncharacterized; it would perhaps be more correct to write them with at the end (e.g. vark-), but by leaving them thus uncharacterized we wish to distinguish them from those stems which may coincide with them in sound-form.

These are the methods of stem-formation from roots. The language, however, did not remain stationary, but further stems began to be developed from these stems which were sprung directly from roots. Stems of the former kind we call primary stems, and suffixes which are used for their formation primary suffixes; stems of the latter kind, which presuppose other stems for their formation, we call secondary stems, and the suffixes used for their formation secondary suffixes. The latter partly coincide in form with the primary suffixes. In the case of verbs, the same suffixes are added to the derived verbal-stems as to the underived, the verbal-stem being equivalent to a root, whether it be derived or primitive : it is, therefore, right to count all suffixes which are joined immediately to the end of verbal-stems (forming participles, nomina actionis, nomina agentis) as primary suffixes; e.g. -nt(-ant-) in bhārayant-, pres. part. act. causative stem, is no less a primitive suffix than in bharant-, pres. part. act. of the stemverb. On the other hand, comparative- and superlative-suffixes, diminutive-formations, etc., which presuppose complete noun-stems, are secondary, e.g. Lat. diu-inu-s stem diuo- (diuos); facil-ior stem fac-ili-, fac; doct-ior- stem doct-o-, doc; whence again comes the stem doct-is-simo-, in which form -is- is a comparative-suffix (cf. doct-ius), and -simo- = -timo-, f.f. -tama-, the compounded superlative suffix; the stem doc-t-is-si-mo- has thus

§ 82. four stem-formative elements after the root. Moreover, vowel

raising may be combined with secondary stem-formation, e.g. Sk. stem dāiv-ika- (n. sg. masc. däivika-s godlike) stem děvá-, origl. daiva- (n. sg. dévá-s, origl. daiva-s god).

The identity with pronominal roots of most elements used as stem-formative suffixes, including the most common ones, ta, ya, ka, etc., arises from the circumstance that this kind of root (i.e. a root whose originally more concrete meaning has sunk into a more general one, so that its meaning has been reduced to a relation), by bearing a general meaning, has become serviceable for the more accurate definition of other roots which convey more concrete meanings.

A further secondary means of stem-formation-one which is essentially distinct from those already mentioned-consists in3. Composition of word-stems to form a new word-stem. Composition is much employed in Indo-European languages. (Cf. Ferd. Justi, über die zusammensetzung der nomina in den Indog. sprachen. Göttingen, 1861.)

Stem-formation by attachment of relation-elements is distinct from composition in that it originated in the period of the growing language, whereas composition does not occur till the language is actually formed, presupposing, as it does, readymade word-stems as its materials. Confluence or combination of words is likewise to be separated from true composition in the case of the former words (i.e. elements of a sentence provided with terminations of case and person) become welded together, while the latter compounds word-stems so as to form a new stem.

Naturally this combination has not occurred till a later period in particular languages, whereas composition must perhaps be ascribed even to the Indo-European original language (the archaic stems svastar- sister, svakura- father-in-law, e.g. are probably compounded; so, too, must we assign to the compound stems of the aor. and fut. a date as early as that of the original language).

Prepositions and the augment before the verb form the com- § 82. monest examples of combination or coalition of words once independent in our languages; they are adverbs which have grown on, i.e. they were originally cases, e.g. abs-tineo from abs and teneo; abs, like ex, etc., seems to be a gen. case; the looseness of the connexion shows itself in all cases, e.g. Èk-πÍπτW beside é-é-Teσov, etc. Yet we find combination elsewhere also, ἐξ-έ-πεσον, e.g. Lat. quamuis, quamobrem, etc.; German frankenland (franken is gen. pl.), wolfsmilch (wolfs is gen. sg.), etc. Here the accent is the only mark of the combination.

True composition has the power of expressing a relation; it can give the new word a relation which is foreign to the component parts taken separately, and which originates only in and through their composition; e.g. μaкpó-xeip, longi-manus, i.e. 'whose hands are long, long-handed': here the possessive relation belongs to the composition; Xoyo-ypápo-s 'word-writing' =λóyovs ypáþwv; iu-dic- (iudex)=ius dicens ‘indicating, saying justice,' etc. In the latter instances the former element of the compound acts as a case, though it has no case-suffix. A fresh relation of this kind can never be produced by combination; for combination is nothing but varied and facilitated utterance -nothing but union, by means of a common accent, of words previously separate; it cannot therefore have anything in common with stem-formation.

An exhaustive statement of Indo-European stem-formation does not lie within the range of this compendium, since it is intended to embrace only what is indispensable for beginners in comparative philology. The science of stem-formation is moreover full of difficulties, and requires in parts a more detailed discussion than can be contained in a work which is confined to the narrowest limits possible. Of this wide range we select therefore only a few parts, which we shall now proceed to discuss, viz. 1. derivative verbal-stems; 2. noun-stems which are most nearly connected with the verb, i.e. participles and in

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§ 82. finitives, and a few other noun-stems which are allied to these, or seem to be otherwise noteworthy; 3. comparative- and superlative-stems; 4. stems of cardinal- and ordinal-numbers. The last section, although of subordinate value for the explanation of the construction of language, is appended on account of the high interest of the numerals from other points of view. Hence under this last head we pass over the morphological arrangement, and direct our attention exclusively to the function, by discussing the separate numerals one by one irrespective of their phonetic expression.

Note. It is obvious that here, in the chapter on morphology, if we had wished to be consistent, no regard should have been paid to the functions of stems, and that, since stems are not yet words, no distinction should have been made between verbal-stems and noun-stems. Likewise, the treatment of stem-formation should include the stem-forms of tenses and moods as well as all other stem-forms. The formation of verb-stems (in the widest sense of the word) does not, of course, belong to the statement of word-formation (conjugation), in which only the subject of person-terminations is to be treated, because the latter are the only elements which make the verb-stem a real member of a sentence, a word. However, in order not to divide the subjectmatter in a way hitherto unusual, thereby rendering this work difficult to be used by students accustomed to earlier systems, we determine to leave the theory of tense-stems and moodelements to the section 'Word-formation' (conjugation), and under 'noun-stems' (in Part II.) to refer now and then to similarly formed verbal-stems.

Hitherto we have no thoroughly scientific arrangement of Indo-European stem-forms. As regards Part II. of our fragmentary exposition of Indo-European stem-formations, in which we shall have to produce at least a fair number of stem-formative suffixes, we shall for the present follow the example of G. Curtius (De nominum Graecorum formatione, Berlin, 1842) in adopting a phonetic principle of arrangement; that is to say, we shall treat successively (1) stems without suffixes; (2) the simplest vowel-suffixes; and (3) suffixes having one or more consonants. Under the last head the suffixes ya and va will come first; after them suffixes with so-called liquids; and, finally, those whose chief element is a momentary sound,

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