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The dative of agent in Indo-European languages

Published/Copyright: March 1, 2016

Abstract

The paper discusses various constructions of ancient Indo-European languages that have been described as featuring a dative of agent. The occurrence of the dative can be explained either through its beneficiary meaning, or as indicating an experiencer. In fact, a number of passages that have been taken as evidence for the reconstruction of a dative of agent do not contain agent phrases at all. Thus, while different constructions have parallels in two or more ancient languages, it is impossible to reconstruct a dative of agent as a unified category for PIE, except in the case of nominal verb forms denoting obligation.

Abbreviations

abl

ablative

acc

accusative

aor

aoriste

art

article

cmp

comparative

dat

dative

dem

demonstrativ

det

determiner

dir

directive

du

dual

f

feminine

fut

future

gen

genitive

gerve

gerundive

IE

Indo-European

impf

imperfective

inf

infinitive

inst

instrumental

int

interrogative

loc

locative

m

masculine

mid

middle

n

neuter

neg

negation

nom

nominative

NP

noun-phrase

opt

optative

p

passive

pf

perfective

pl

plural

poss

possessive

prev

preverb

prs

present

pst

past

ptc

particle

ptcp

participle

refl

reflexive

rel

relative

sg

singular

sbj

subject

subj

subjunctive

voc

vocative

Names of authors and works

Andr.

Andria

Att.

Letter to Atticus

BC

The Civil War

Caes.

Caesar

Cat.

Catullus

Cic.

Cicero

CIL

Corpus of Latin Inscription

Crit.

Crito

De Or.

De Oratore

Epid.

Epidicus

Hdt.

Herodotus

Il.

Iliad

Inv.

De Inventione

KBo

Keilschrifttexten aus Bogazköy (English translation??)

KUB

Keilschrift Urkunden aus Bogazköy (English translation)

Od.

Odyssey

Otfr.

Otfrid

Ph.

Phormio

Phil.

Philo

Pl.

Plato

Rep.

The Republic

RV

Rig Veda

Ter.

Terentius

Th.

Thucydides

Tht.

Theethetus

Toch A

Toacharian A

Yt.

Yashts

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Published Online: 2016-3-1
Published in Print: 2016-4-1

©2016 by De Gruyter Mouton

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