Setting a Long Story Straight
Attic εὐθύς ‘straight’, Ionic ῑθύς ‘id.’, and Vedic sādhú- ‘id.’
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22311596 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ashleigh Merritt (0000-0003-2395-9321, Georgetown University, corresponding author), Andrew Merritt (Georgetown University) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 135 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 220-234 |
| Publication date | 2021-10-12 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Historical Linguistics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0935-3518 • E-ISSN: 2196-8071 |
| Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.13109/hisp.2022.135.1.220 |
| OpenAlex | W4387626221 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 5 |
While it has long been assumed that the Greek dialectal variants εὐθύς ‘straight’ and ῑθύς ‘id.’ are etymologically related to Vedic sādhú- ‘id.’, the phonological discrepancy in the material preceding the reflex of *-dh– in each of these comparanda has defied explanation. This paper argues that the variation can be explained by appeal to well-documented features of PIE syntax and derivational morphosemantics, chiefly, the predicative instrumental periphrasis with causative *dheh1- ‘put, make, do’ and the parallel derivation of i-stems, u-stems, and root-nouns employable as substantives, in this case, the adjectival abstracts *séh1-/sh1- ‘length’ (: én-loc. *sh1-én ‘for a long time’ [> ON sí ‘ever’] → *sh1-én-o- ‘long-existing’ [> Ved. sána- ‘old’]), *só/éh1-i- ‘id.’, and *só/éh1- u- ‘id.’ derived from *√seh1- ‘long’ (Lat. sērus ‘late’, OIr. sír ‘long’). Directly comparable to the calefacio-type as analyzed by Jasanoff (1978) and to the cvi-construction of Old Indic (Schindler 1980; Balles 2006), the equivalent phrases *sh1-éh1/séh1-i-h1/séh1-u-h1 dheh1- ‘lengthen, elongate’ are reconstructed as the bases of compound thematic adjectives (e.g., rūbidus-type, Nussbaum 1999) whose patientive sense ‘elongated, extended’ conditioned the Property Conceptual (Rau 2009) meaning ‘straight’ and from whose substantival acrostatic u-stem derivatives were formed the proterokinetic etyma of sādhú-, ῑθύς, and εὐθύς
Archaeology · Art · Attic · Linguistics · Literature · Ancient Near East History · Classical Antiquity Studies · History · Linguistics and language evolution · Philosophy
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |