Abstract
Purpose: In my paper I discuss the origin of the dual n-marker in Tocharian (Toch. B -ne, A -m), which seems to denote natural pairs, as well as random twosomes. It is traditionally treated as an innovation of the Tocharian languages. Method: In my investigations I used the historical-comparative method. Results: Some residual facts attested in the different Indo-European languages (including Albanian, Old Prussian and Insular Celtic ones) demonstrate traces of the n-marker. Conclusion: The dual nmarker, preserved in Tocharian, is of Indo-European origin.References
Euler Wolfram. 1985. "Körperteilnamen im Albanischen und ihre Herkunft." Indogermanische Forschungen 90, 104-122.
Hilmarsson Jörundur. 1989. The Dual Forms of Nouns and Pronouns in Tocharian. Reykjavík: Jörundur Hilmarsson (Tocharian and Indo-European Studies. Supplementary Series, vol. 1).
Huld Martin E. 1984. Basic Albanian Etymologies. Columbus: Slavica Publishers.
Krause Wolfgang. 1955. "Zum Gebrauch des Parals und des Duals im Tocharisch." Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung 72, 233-234.
Matasović Ranko. 2009. Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic. Leiden-Boston: Brill.
Orel Vladimir. 1998. Albanian Etymological Dictionary. Leiden-Boston-Köln: Brill.
Smoczyński Wojciech. 1989. "Эльбнгский словарь: эмендации, чтения и этимологии" [The Elbing Vocabulary: emendations, readings and etymologies]. In: Топоров 1989: 13-42.
Smoczyński Wojciech. 2000. Untersuchungen zum Deutschen Lehngut im Altpreussischen. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego.
Топоров В.Н. (ed.). 1989. Балто-славянские исследования 1987. Cборник научных трудов. Mocква [Moscow]: N auka, 13-42.
Winter Werner. 1962. "Nominal and Pronominal Dual in Tocharian." Language 38, 111-134.
Winter Werner. 1984. Studia Tocharica. Selected Writings. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM.
License
Copyright (c) 2012 Krzysztof Witczak
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.