PIE Nouns

Nouns and Substantives

Noun stems in Proto-Indo-European belonged to a larger class of stems often called sub-stantives. A substantive is any open-class stem which can be declined, that is, providedwith endings which express case and number.

Included in the substantives are nouns (including names), adjectives and participles (ad-jectives formed from verbs: these also have aspect and voice).

Gender

In addition to case and number, substantives also have the property of gender. Althoughthere are three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter), it was only in late PIE that femi-nine nouns were systematically distinguished from masculines in their in!ection. Nev-ertheless, feminine adjectives showed distinct in!ectional forms.

The Anatolian languages continue the early situation and have only two genders (ani-mate and neuter), but the remaining IE lgg. developed speci"c in!ections correlatedwith feminine gender.

Concord

Nouns possess gender inherently: their gender is a "xed grammatical property. On theother hand adjectives and participles, as well as certain pronouns, have their gender de-termined by the context in which they occur; this is known as concord.

For example, an adjective will normally have the same gender and number as the nounit modi"es.

Thematic and Athematic In!ection

As with verbs, the in!ection of substantives depends in part on whether they are the-matic (end in *-e- or *-o-) or athematic.

Number

As in the verbal system there are three numbers in the in!ection of PIE substantives:singular, dual, and plural.

Case

There were eight cases in PIE: nominative, vocative, accusative, instrumental, dative,ablative, genitive and locative. These eight cases survive in Sanskrit, but in other lgg.the some of the cases have been lost and their functions taken over by other cases.

Case marking is a signal of the function of the noun in the sentence. For example, thesubject of a verb is usually nominative while the object is usually accusative and the in-direct object is typically dative.

Zelda bet Mary !ve dollars that ...NOM DAT ACC

The vocative is used when addressing someone.

Zelda! Come here! said Mary. VOC NOM

The instrumental normally denotes that the noun is used in order to achieve the resultdenoted by the verb.

Zelda broke the pot with a hammer.NOM ACC INSTR

The genitive usually denotes the possessor, the locative the location and the ablativethe source:

Darleens cat dropped the dead mouse from the backyard in the kitchen.GEN NOM ACC ABL LOC

In English and in the modern IE lgg. many of the relations expressed by the cases areshown by prepositions. In the earliest IE lgg. the object of a preposition appeared in acase and the meaning was often determined by both the choice of preposition and thecase of the noun that followed:

Gk: side Socrates-GEN side Socrates-ACC side Socrates-DATfrom the side of Socrates to the side of Socrates at the side of Socrates= from Socrates to Socrates by Socrates

It is thought that in many instances prepositions were originally adverbs or nouns.It should be borne in mind that in PIE they probably followed the noun they governed,and therefore were in fact postpositions.

*apo from*en in*en-ter crossing (*ter) in> within, inside*epi/*opi upon, by*kata/*kmta down*kom with*nder, *ndos under*ni down, under*per, *per-i around, through*pr, *pr forward*uper above*upo below

Oblique vs. Direct casesThe nominative, accusative and vocative are known as the direct cases.The remaining cases are as a group called oblique.

Chart of substantival desinencesIn the chart below if no ending is given in the neuter column the ending is identical tothe one in the animate column.

athematic thematicm. or f. neuter m. or f. neuter

sg. nom. *-s ~ *- *- *-o-s *o-mvoc. *- = nom. *-e- =nom.acc. *-m = nom. *-o-m =nom.inst. *-h ~ *-h *-o-hdat. *-i *-o-eiabl. *-s ~ *-s ~ *-s *-e-Hat ( *e-ad)gen. = abl. ? *-o-sioloc. * -, later *-i * -e-, later *-e-i

du. nom/acc/voc. *-he ~ -h *-ih *-o-hinst/dat/abl. unknown unknowngen/loc. *? -ous unknown

pl. nom./voc. *-es *-h ~ *- *-o-es -e-hacc. *-ns =nom. *-o-ns =nom.inst. *-b *-o-ois ( *-is)dat./abl. *-ms *-o-mos or ?*-o-i-mosgen. *-oHom *-o-oHomloc. *-s *-o-i-su

Note that the theme vowel *-o- does not show the same distribution as in the verb.Here *-o- is replaced by *-e- only in the nom.sg., abl.sg., loc.sg. and neut.pl.

Szemernyis LawThe normal animate nom.sg. ending was *-s and the neuter plural *-h. Noun stems ending in a vowel plus a consonantal resonant (*r, *l, *m, *n) or *s (optio-nally followed by h) were subject to Szemernyis Law, according to which the thenom. sg. ending *-s (as well as the neut. pl. ending *-h) was deleted and the last vowelof the stem lengthened:

Vr-s Vr, Vl-s Vl, Vm-s Vm, Vn-s VnVr-h Vr, Vl-h Vl, Vm-h Vm, Vn-h Vn

*phtr-s *phtr father nsg. *uksn-s *uksn bull, ox nsg. *nbos-h nbs clouds npl. neut.

A laryngeal to the left of the "nal *-s was also lost:Vnh-s Vn

*gn-h-s *gn woman nsg.

Finally, a stem-"nal *n was also lost after * at the end of a word:-on-s *kun-s kun ku dog nsg.

Locative SingularOriginally it appears that the locative sg. had no explicit ending, but in this case the ac-cent of the noun shifted to the "nal syllable. In later PIE an inst. ending * (athematic)and *e-i (thematic) developed. Then in most lgg. (except Oscan) *-e-i changed to *-o-iso as to regularize the distribution of the *-o theme vowel.

AccentuationThe direct case endings are unaccented.The oblique case endings are accented, but lose the accent when attaching to a nounstem that is accented.

Basic Accentuation Principle of PIE This is part of a general accentual phenomenon in PIE: the leftmost accentedmorpheme in a word is the one that retains its accent.

Accent-Ablaut TypesThe shift in accent within the forms of an in!ected substantive was correlated in mostcases with a change in grade. Typically, unaccented morphemes reduce to their zerograde, and accented morphemes retain the full grade or extended grade.

The full system of alternations in accent placement and its connection to ablaut is stillnot completely understood, but the following types of stems are usually identi"ed:

A. Monosyllabic stems

A1. amphikinetic (no inherent accent)Direct cases: accented full gradeOblique cases: unaccented zero grade: accent on the desinence

A2. acrostatic (inherent accent)The stem is always accented, but the direct cases and oblique cases show di1erentgrades, e.g. * vs. * or * vs. *.

B. Polysyllabic stems

B1. acrostatic (inherent accent)similar to A2

B2. amphikinetic (no inherent accent)Direct cases: accent on the leftmost syllable of the stemOblique cases: accent on the ending

B3. hysterokinetic Direct cases: accent on the rightmost syllable of the stem (all preceding syllables ofthe stem are "xed in the zero-grade)Oblique cases: accent on the ending

B4. proterokineticDirect cases: accent on the second-to-last (penultimate) syllable of the stemOblique cases: accent on the rightmost syllable of the stem.

Examples:A1. Acrodynamic monosyllabic

*hnt- ~ *hnt- forehead m.*hnr- ~ *hnr- man m.*diu- ~ *diu- sky, sky god m. *urhd- ~ *urhd- root f.*kr- ~ *krd- heart n.*Hig- ~ *Hig- sacri"ce*iug- ~ *iug- yoke

A2. Acrostatic monosyllabic (Fortsons root nouns)*dm- ~ *dm- house f.*nkt- ~ *nkt- night f.*hst- ~ *hst- bone n.*mms- ~ *mms- meat n.*pd- ~ *ped- foot m. (but nsg. is *pd-s)

B1. Acrostatic polysyllabic*mhns- ~ *mhns- moon f.*hui- ~ *hui- sheep n.*hnhmn- ~ *hnhmn- name n.

*Hikr- ~ *Hikn- liver n.*sr- ~ *sn- autum n.*ustu- ~ *ustu- settlement n. *krtu- ~ *krtu- insight, intelligence

B2. Amphikinetic polysyllabic*pntoh- ~ *pnth- path m.*limon- ~ *limn- lake f.*dgm- ~ *(d)gm- earth f. (zero-grade leads to thorn cluster: *d lost in oblique cases, or metathesized in *gdsm loc.sg.)*udr- ~ udn- waters n.*husos ~ *huss- dawn

B3. Hysterokinetic polysyllabic*phtr- ~ *phtr- father m.*hstr- ~ *hstr- star m. *dughtr- ~ *dughtr- daughter f. *uk()sn- ~ *uk()sn- bull, ox m. (NB. NE pl. ox-en)*dnguh ~ *dnguh- tongue f.

B4. Proterokinetic: quite common, including derived nouns with certain su"xes

deverbal nouns ending in *-tei- (f.) denoting acts*dh-ti- ~ *dh-ti- act of putting*gm-ti- ~ *gm-ti- act of walking: step*mn-ti- ~ *mn-ti- thought

deverbal nouns ending in *-teu- (m.)*gus-tu- ~ *gus-tu- taste

most deverbal nouns ending in *-men- (n.)*sh-mn- ~ *sh-mn- seed*blg-mn- ~ *blg-mn- sacred formula

most feminine stems ending in *-eh- (unless derived from thematic stems)*gn-h- ~ *gn-h- woman*huidu-h- ~ huidu-h- woman

many neuter stems ending in *-r- ~ *-n- or *-l- ~ ~ *-n-*ud-r ~ ud-n- water *shu-l ~ *shu-n- sun*phu-r ~ *phu-n- "re n.Various neuter stems in *-i- ~ *-i or *-u- ~ *-u (perh. orginially acrostatic, as Forston says in his book)

*mr-i- ~ *mr-i- sea n.*gn-u ~ *gn-u- knee n.*dr-u ~ *dr-u- tree n.*hou-i ~ *hu-i- life force n.

Accentuation of Thematic Nouns

Thematic noun stems were of two types: C1. accented on the initial syllable of the rootC2. accented on the theme vowel.

The accent did not move: it was "xed on the same syllable in every form.

C1. Inital syllable root-accented thematic*ku-o- horse m.*urg-o- work n.*hul n-e-h- wool f.

C2. Theme-vowel-accented*deiu-- god m.*snus-- daughter-in-law f.*iug-- yoke n. *doHn--h- grain f.

In late PIE a new in!ectional type, normally feminine gender, emerged through su4x-ing *-h (seen in old fem. nouns like *gn-h- ~ *gn-h woman) to regular thematicstems. However, on analogy with the full grade of the *-eh su4x (as in *gn-h) thetheme vowel was "xed as *-e-. This gave rise to a new in!ectional type in thematic *-eh- (> *-). These too showed either "xed accent on the "rst syllable of the root, or"xed accent on the theme vowel *--(h)-.

Neuter Plurals and CollectivesOriginally neuter nouns did not have plurals. Instead, the concept of plurality forneuters could only be expressed through deriving a new collective noun stem with thesu4x *-h. (This is like the English su4x -age which can form jocular collectives likebabe-age = lots of babes (construed as a single object).)

*kkl-o- wheel m.*kekl--h wheel-age = set of wheels Because the collectives had "xed accent on the theme *--h, when the *-h was rein-terpreted as the plural ending for neuter nouns, the result was that some nouns alsoshowed a pattern of shifting the accent from the singular to the plural (not just fromthe direct cases to the oblique cases).

A2 A1 B1 B2sg. nom. nkt-s urhd-s mhns-s mhns limon-s lim

voc. nkt- urhd- mhns- limon-acc. nkt-m urhd-m mhns-m limon-minst. nkt-h urhd-h mhns-h limn-hdat. nkt-ei urhd-i mhns-ei limn-iabl/gen. nkt-s urhd-s mhns-os limn-sloc. nkt-i urhd-i mhns-i limn-i

du. direct nkt-he urhd-he mhns-he limon-hepl. nom/voc. nkt-es urhd-es mhns-es limon-es

acc. nkt-ns urhd-ns mhns-ns limon-nsinst. nkt-bi urhd-b mhns-bi limn-bdat/abl. nkt-mos urhd-ms mhns-mos limn-msgen. nkt-oHom urhd-Hom mhns-oHom limn-Homloc. nkt-su urhd-s mhns-su mhnsu limn-s

B3 B4 C1 C2sg. nom. hstr-s hstr mn-ti-s hgr-o-s nisd--s

voc. hstr- mn-ti- hgr-e- nisd--acc. hstr-m mn-ti-m hgr-o-m nisd--minst. hstr-h mn-t-h hgr-o-h nisd--hdat. hstr-i mn-ti-ei hgr-o-ei nisd--eiabl hstr-s mn-ti-s hgr-e-ad nisd--adgen. id. id. hgr-o-sio nisd--sioloc. hstr-i mn-ti-i mn-ti hgr-e-i nisd--i

du. direct hstr-he mn-ti-h hgr-o-h nisd-o-hpl. nom/voc. hstr-es mn-tei-es hgr-o-es nisd--es

acc. hstr-ns mn-ti-ns hgr-o-ns nisd--nsinst. hstr-b mn-ti-b hgr-is nisd-isdat/abl. hstr-ms mn-t-mos hgr-o-(i)mos nisd--(i)mosgen. hstr-Hom mn-ti-oHom hgr-o-oHom nisd--oHomloc. hstr-s mn-t-su hgr-o-isu nisd--isu

A1 B1 B4 sg. direct kr- *hnh-mn- dr-u-

inst. krd-h *hnh-mn-h dr--hetc. etc. etc.

loc. krdi *hnh-mn-i dr-e-idu. direct krd-ih *hnh-mn-ih dr-u-ihpl. direct krd-h dr-u-h

inst. krd-b dr--bigen. krd-Hom dr-u-oHom

etc.

C1 C2 A2 (in *-es) sg. direct urg-o-m iug--m nb-os-

inst. urg-o-h iug--h nb-es-hetc. etc. etc.

loc. urg-e-i iug--i nb-es-idu. direct urg--ih iug--ih nb-es-ihpl. direct urg-e-h iug--h nb-os-h nb-s

inst. urg-is iug-is nb-es-bigen. urg-o-oHom iug--oHom nb-es-oHom

etc.

Adjectives

Adjective stems are declined like noun stems, with the exception that adjectives have aspeci"c feminine form.

For athematic stems, the feminine form is made by adding the su4x *-ieh-. The result-ing stem is proterokinetic (type B4).

For thematic stems, the feminine form is made by adding the su4x *-h-.

Most adjective stems fall into the following categories:

a. thematic adjective stems (m.n. *-o-, f. *-o-h- or m.n. *--, f. *--h-)

b. u-stems (proterokinetic) (m.n. -u-~ *-- ~ -u- ~ , f. *-uih- ~ *uih-)

c. active participles of athematic verbs (hysterokinetic) (m.n. *-nt- ~ *-nt-, f. *-ntih- ~ *-ntih-)

d. active participles of thematic verbs (mn. *-nt-, f. *-ntih-)

e. perfect participles (amphikinetic in early PIE, mostly hysterokinetic in late PIE)(mn. *-us- ~ *-us-, f. *usih ~ *usih)

Adjective Paradigmsmn. *tnh-u- ~ *tnh-u-, f. *tnh-u-ih- ~ *tnh-u-ih- thinm. (n.) f.

sg. nom. tnh-u-s (-) tnh-u-ih-acc. tnh-u-m (-) tnh-u-ih-minst. tnh--h tnh-u-ih-hdat. tnh-u-ei tnh-u-ih-eiabl./gen. tnh-u-s tnh-u-ih-sloc. tnh-u-i tnh-u-ih-i

pl. nom./voc. tnh-eu-es (tnh-u-h) tnh-u-ih-esacc. tnh-eu-ns (tnh-u-h) tnh-u-ih-nsinst. tnh--bi tnh-u-ih-bidat/abl. tnh--mos tnh-u-ih-mosgen. tnh-u-oHom tnh-u-ih-oHomloc. tnh--su tnh-u-ih-su

mn. *plhn-/- f. *plhn--h- fullm. (n.) f.

sg. nom. plhn--s (-m) plhn--h-acc. plhn--m (-m) plhn--h-minst. plhn--h plhn--h-hdat. plhn--ei plhn--h-eiabl. plhn--Had id. gen. plhn--sio plhn--h-sloc. plhn--i plhn--h-i

pl. nom./voc. plhn--es (plhn--h) plhn--h-esacc. plhn--ns (plhn--h) plhn--h-nsinst. plhn-is plhn--h-bidat/abl. plhn--(i)mos plhn--h-mosgen. plhn--oHom plhn--h-oHomloc. plhn--isu plhn--h-su

Numbersone m. (n.) f.nom. sm-s sm (sm-) sm-ihvoc. sm- sm-iacc. sm-m sm (sm-) sm-ih-minst. sm-h sm-ih-hdat. sm-i sm-ih-eiabl/gen. sm-s sm-ih-sloc. sm-i sm-ih-itwo m. (n.) f.dir. dual du--h (du--ih) ? *du--h-ih *duis twicethree m. (n.) f.nom.voc. pl. tri-es (tr-h) tisr-es *tris thriceacc. tr-ns (tr-h) tisr-nsinst. tri-b tisr-bdat/abl. tri-ms tisr-msgen. tri-Hom tisr-Homloc. tri-s tisr-s

four m. (n.)nom.voc.pl. kt-ur-es (kt-ur-) ? kt-esr-esacc. kt-ur-ns (kt-ur-) ? kt-esr-nsinst. kt-ur-b ket-esr-bdat/abl. kt-ur-ms ket-esr-msgen. kt-ur-Hom ket-esr-Homloc. kt-ur-s ket-esr-s

*pnke "ve, *suks six, *sept seven, *oktu eight, *hnun nine*dkmt ( *dkmd) ten*dui-dkmt-ih two tens > *u-kmt-ih twenty *dkmt--m > *kmt--m hundred

Demonstrative pronounm. (n.) f.

sg. nom. s- (t-t td) s--hacc. t--m (t-t td) t--h-minst. ton--h ? t--h-hdat. tsm-ei ts-ieh-eiabl. tsm-e-Hat ( tsmead) ts-ieh-sgen. t--sio ts-ieh-sloc. tsm-i ts-ieh-i

du. direct t--h ??pl. nom. t--i t--h-es

acc. t--ns t--h-nsinst. tis t--h-bidat/abl. t--i-mos t--h-mosgen. t--i-s-oHom t--h-s-oHomloc. t--i-su t--h-su

Personal PronounsI/we you self he (it) she

sg. nom. gh (? g-oh) th i (t d) hacc. mm ~ me tu ~ te su ~ se -m (t d) h-minst. mme ~ moi tue ~ toi sue ~ soi -h ??dat. mgie ~ moi tbie ~ toi sbie ~ soi sm-ei s-ieh-eiabl. sm-e-Hat ( -ad) s-ieh-sgen. mne s-sio ( sio) id.loc. s-mi s-ieh-i

dual nom. u (? u-h) i (?) ?? ??acc. nhm ~ noh uhu ~ uoh

pl. nom. u-i i i-es (-h) h-es (?)acc. nsm ~ nos usu ~ uos -ns (-h) h-ns (?)inst. ??? ??? i-bi h-bidat/abl. i-mos h-mosgen. i-s-oHom h-s-oHomloc. i-su h-su

Other pronounsmy: *moi-o- ~ *mei-o; your (sg.) *teu-o- ~ *tu-o-, ones own: *seu-o- ~ *su-o-that one: *en-o- other, another: *ali-o-

demonstrative pronouns*i- m., *ih- f., *id n. this one | L s, e, id, NE it, NHG er he (< *i-s) *so- m., *seh- (> *s-) f., *td n. that one | NE that (< *td), Gk , , he, she, it (>the)*ki-s this one | NE he, Lat cis (> Fr -ci), H ki*itero-s another one | L iterum*ith thus | L ita *idh here | L ib *tr there | NE there*todh (> *tod) then | Skt tad, Lith tad *thuot- (> *tuot-) so many, so long | TB tot

interrogative pronouns*k-s who | NE who (< OE hw) *ki-s who | L quis (> Sp/Fr qui), Gk , H kuis *k-d what | L quod, NE what (< OE hwt) *ki-d what, what one | L quid *ktero-s which (of two) | L uter, NE whether (< OE hwer)*km when | L cum when*kodh (> *kod) when | Skt kad*kr where | L qur, NE where (< OE hwr)*ku ~ *k ( *ku, k) where | L ubi (> Fr o), H ku-wapi, OCS kde > R gde *kti ~ *kti how much, how many | L quot, Gk *koiHo-s pertaining to whom/what| L cius of who, what gsg. > Sp cuyo

relative pronouns*i-s m., *i-h (> *i), *i-d who, what, that | , , , Skt ys, y, yd

conjunctions*-ke and | L -que, H -ki, Skt -ca, Gk *-io and | H -ya*eti and, in addition | L et (> Fr et, Sp y)*-u or | L -ve, Gk (> > ) *ne not | NE no, L ne- (> Fr ne), Hit natta*m not | Gk , Skt m

Nominal Derivation

Heteroclite stemsThese stems had di1erent consonants in the direct case stem vs. the oblique case stem.The best-known examples are the neuter *-r/-n stems:

*ud-r ~ ud-n- water n.*phu-r ~ *phu-n- "re n.*Hikr- ~ *Hikn- liver n.*hshr- ~ *hsh-n- blood n. *sr- ~ *sn- autum n.

There is also an *-l/-n stem:*shu-l ~ *shu-n- sun

Abstract nouns in *-men ~ *mn

Ho#man su"x indicating possession: *-Hon ~ *-Hn-*hiu-Hon- ~ *hiu-Hn- having life-force

Agent nouns in *-tr and *-tor:

*dh-tr- giver (-) ~ *dh-tor- giver (-)

Neuter stems in *-os ~ *-es (accent "xed on the root)*nb-os/-es- cloud*gn-os/-es- birth

Possessive su"x *-uent-:*bag-o-uent- having a share > wealthy