Latin non-finite verbal endings derive from Proto-Indo-European nominal suffixes
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Available historical linguistics sources outline how Latin and Indo-European non-finite verbal forms, such as infinitives and participles, trace their origins back to case-inflected nominal suffixes and verbal noun stems.
The sigmatic or first aorist is in favour of this view, as it certainly belongs to the age of Indo-European unity, and may be a compound of the verbal stem with the auxiliary as. After the separation of the Indo-European languages, composition was largely employed in the formation of new tenses. Thus in Latin we have perfects like scrip-si and ama-vi, formed by the help of the auxiliaries as (sum) and fuo, while such forms as amaveram (amavi-eram) or amarem (ama-sem) bear their origin on their face. So, too, the future in Latin and Old Celtic (amabo, Irish carub) is based upon the substantive verb fuo, “to be,” and the English preterite in -ed goes back to a suffixed did, the reduplicated perfect of do. New tenses and moods, however, were created by the aid of suffixes as well as by the aid of composition, or rather were formed from nouns whose stems terminated in the suffixes in question. Thus in Greek we have aorists and perfects in -κα, and the characteristics of the two passive aorists, ye and the, are more probably the suffixes of nominal stems than the roots of the two verbs ya, “to go,” and dhâ, “to place,” as Bopp supposed.
# Origin of Latin Non-Finite Verbal Endings
- Tags: historical-linguistics, morphology, latin
- Score: 3
- Views: 217
- Answers: 1
- Asked by: Tristan (12,270 rep)
- Asked on: Nov 4, 2022
- Last active: Sep 21, 2023
- License: CC BY-SA 4.0
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## Question
I'm wondering about the origins of the various non-finite verbal endings in Latin.
My understanding so far of their PIE origins:
- Infinitives:
* Present Active: -s-ey (dative of an s-stem verbal noun)
* Perfect Active: no idea
* Present Passive: thematic genitive either on bare stem or s-stem depending on conjugation?
- Participles:
* Present Active: -nt-s, other branches have o-grade in thematic verbs
* Future Active: no idea
* Perfect Passive: -t-os
* Future Passive: related to the gerund?
- Verbal Nouns:
* Gerund: presumably related to the present active participle, but the voicing is odd
* Supine: -tu-s
Is anyone aware of further information on any of these?
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## Accepted Answer — Score: 3
- By: Tristan (12,270 rep)
- Answered on: Sep 21, 2023
I've finally found sources for those options here that don't have completely transparent parallels and that don't really require explantion.
- **Infinitives**:
Everything we examined (2)
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