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Reevaluating the etymology of Latin reflexives

  • Francisca Toro , Verónica Orqueda EMAIL logo and Demian Inostroza
Published/Copyright: April 1, 2022
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Abstract

This paper offers a synchronic and diachronic analysis of the diverse forms in Old Latin (third–second century BCE) that can be connected to Proto-Indo-European (PIE) *s(w)e-: se, sibi, sum, sam, sos, sas, sis, ipse. We classify our sample according to different grammatical, semantic, and pragmatic values, such as the construction type, animacy, and topicality of their referents. Among the results, we show that se and sibi are not primarily used as reflexives and that they share remarkably similar grammatical, semantic, and pragmatic features with the rest of the studied forms. These findings lead us to support the hypothesis of a single etymological origin in the PIE *s- + vowel (*sV) root and to further claim that this root was not a reflexive or a simple anaphoric marker, but a demonstrative pronoun that ranked high in a referential hierarchy.


Corresponding author: Verónica Orqueda, Department of Linguistic Sciences, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago de Chile, Chile, E-mail:

Funding source: National Research and Development Agency

Award Identifier / Grant number: FONDECYT 11170045

Award Identifier / Grant number: FONDECYT 1210321

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the anonymous reviewers and the editor for their constructive comments. We also thank Dr. Julia Mendoza for her comments on an earlier version of this paper.

  1. Research funding: This paper is part of the research projects FONDECYT 11170045 and FONDECYT 1210321, funded by the FONDECYT program of ANID (National Research and Development Agency), Chile.

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Received: 2021-02-04
Accepted: 2021-10-02
Published Online: 2022-04-01
Published in Print: 2022-11-25

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