Augment (Indo-European)
The augment is an Indo-European verbal prefix used in Indo-Iranian, Greek, Phrygian, Armenian, and Albanian, to indicate past time.[1] The augment might be either a Proto-Indo-European archaic feature lost elsewhere or a common innovation in those languages.[1] In the oldest attested daughter languages, such as Vedic Sanskrit and early Greek, it is used optionally. The same verb forms when used without the augment carry an injunctive sense.[2][3][4]
The augment originally appears to have been a separate word, with the potential meaning of 'there, then', which in time got fused to the verb. The augment is *h₁é- in PIE (é- in Greek, á- in Sanskrit) and always bears the accent.[2][3]
Greek
[edit]The predominant scholarly view on the prehistory of the augment is that it was originally a separate grammatical particle, although dissenting opinions have occasionally been voiced.[5]
Homeric Greek
[edit]In Homer, past-tense (aorist or imperfect) verbs appeared both with and without an augment.
ὣς
hṑs
φάτο
pháto
—
—
ὣς
hṑs
ἔφατο
éphato
"so he/she said"
ἦμος
êmos
δ᾿
d'
ἠριγένεια
ērigéneia
φάνη
phánē
ῥοδοδάκτυλος
rhododáktulos
Ἠώς,
Ēṓs,
"And when rose-fingered Dawn appeared, early-born,"
Ancient Greek
[edit]In Ancient Greek, the verb λέγω légo "I say" has the aorist ἔλεξα élexa "I said." The initial ε e is the augment. When it comes before a consonant, it is called the "syllabic augment" because it adds a syllable. Sometimes the syllabic augment appears before a vowel because the initial consonant of the verbal root (usually digamma) was lost:[6]
- *έ-ϝιδον *é-widon → (loss of digamma) *ἔιδον *éidon → (synaeresis) εἶδον eîdon
When the augment is added before a vowel, the augment and the vowel are contracted and the vowel becomes long: ἀκούω akoúō "I hear", ἤκουσα ḗkousa "I heard". It is sometimes called the "temporal augment" because it increases the time needed to pronounce the vowel.[7]
Modern Greek
[edit]Unaccented syllabic augment disappeared in some dialects during the Byzantine period as a result of the loss of unstressed initial syllables, this feature being inherited by Standard Modern Greek. However, accented syllabic augments have remained in place.[8] So Ancient ἔλυσα, ἐλύσαμεν (élūsa, elū́samen) "I loosened, we loosened" corresponds to Modern έλυσα, λύσαμε (élisa, lísame).[9] The temporal augment has not survived in the vernacular, which leaves the initial vowel unaltered: Ancient ἀγαπῶ, ἠγάπησα (agapô, ēgápēsa) "I love, I loved"; Modern αγαπώ, αγάπησα (agapó, agápisa).
Sanskrit
[edit]The augment is used in Sanskrit to form the imperfect, aorist, pluperfect[a] and conditional. When the verb has a prefix, the augment always sits between the prefix and the root.[11] The following examples of verb forms in the third-person singular illustrate the phenomenon:
| √bhū-[b] | sam + √bhū-[c] | |
|---|---|---|
| Present | bháv·a·ti | sam·bháv·a·ti |
| Imperfect | á·bhav·a·t | sam·á·bhav·a·t |
| Aorist | á·bhū·t | sam·á·bhū·t |
| Conditional | á·bhav·iṣya·t | sam·á·bhav·iṣya·t |
When the root starts with any of the vowels i-, u- or ṛ, the vowel is subject not to guṇa but vṛddhi.[12][13]
- icch·á·ti -> aí·cch·a·t
- urṇó·ti -> aú·rṇo·t
- ṛdh·nó·ti -> ā́r·dh·no·t
Other
[edit]- Phrygian seems to have had an augment.
- Classical Armenian had an augment,[14] in the form of e-.
- Yaghnobi, an East Iranian language spoken in Tajikistan, has an augment.
Constructed languages
[edit]In J. R. R. Tolkien's Quenya, the repetition of the first vowel before the perfect (for instance utúlië, perfect tense of túlë, "come") is reminiscent of the Indo-European augment in both form and function, and is referred to by the same name in Tolkien's grammar of the language.
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b van Beek 2022, p. 197; Olsen & Thorsø 2022, pp. 209, 217; Hyllested & Joseph 2022, p. 225; Kümmel 2022, p. 260.
- ^ a b Fortson, §5.44.
- ^ a b Burrow, pp. 303-304.
- ^ Clackson, p. 123.
- ^ Andreas Willi (2018) Origins of the Greek verb, Chapter 7 - The Augment, pp. 357-416, Online publication date January 2018, Cambridge University Press, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108164207.008
- ^ Herbert Weir Smyth. Greek Grammar. par. 429: syllabic augment.
- ^ Smyth. par. 435: temporal augment.
- ^ Browning, Robert (1983). Medieval and Modern Greek (p58).
- ^ Sophroniou, S.A. Modern Greek. Teach Yourself Books, 1962, Sevenoaks, p79.
- ^ Whitney, §817.
- ^ Burrow, p. 303.
- ^ Burrow, §7.5.
- ^ Whitney, §585.
- ^ Clackson, James. 1994. The Linguistic Relationship Between Armenian and Greek. London: Publications of the Philological Society, No 30. (and Oxford: Blackwell Publishing)
Bibliography
[edit]- Burrow, T (2001). The Sanskrit Language (2001 ed.). Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 81-208-1767-2.
- Clackson, James (2007). Indo-European Linguistics. Cambridge. ISBN 978-0-521-65313-8.
- Fortson, Benjamin W (2010). Indo-European Language and Culture (2010 ed.). Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4051-8895-1.
- Olander, Thomas, ed. (2022). The Indo-European Language Family: A Phylogenetic Perspective. Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781108758666. ISBN 978-1-108-49979-8. S2CID 161016819.
- van Beek, Lucien. "Chapter 11: Greek". In Olander (2022).
- Olsen, Birgit Anette; Thorsø, Rasmus. "Chapter 12: Armenian". In Olander (2022).
- Hyllested, Adam; Joseph, Brian D. "Chapter 13: Albanian". In Olander (2022).
- Kümmel, Martin Joachim. "Chapter 14: Indo-Iranian". In Olander (2022).
- Whitney, William Dwight (January 2008). Sanskrit Grammar (2000 ed.). Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 978-81-208-0620-7.