Nasal infix
Encyclopedia
The nasal infix is a reconstructed nasal consonant
or syllable that was inserted (infix
ed) into the stem of a word in the Proto-Indo-European language
, that has reflexes in several modern European languages. It served the inflection
al purpose of forming tense
.
(PIE), the nasal infix is one of several means to form the athematic
present tense
. It is inserted immediately before the last consonant of the zero-grade
root
.
The infix appeared as in the forms where a full-grade stem would be expected, and as in forms where zero-grade would be expected. For example, the PIE root "to win" would yield a nasal-infixed present stem .
These presents are called nasal infix presents or simply nasal presents and are typically active transitive
verbs, often with durative aspect.
.
es to mark the present: , , , , , and others. All in all, PIE has at least 18 ways to form the present tense. For many verbs, several of these presents can be reconstructed simultaneously. For example, Scottish Gaelic "to burn" goes back to , a present of the root which is also the source of Ancient Greek (lámpein) "to shine" via its nasal present .
It is not clear why there were so many different types of present forms with no or little discernible differences in meaning. The authors of the Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben
proposed that they were derived from a number of prior grammatical aspects with distinct (but lost) meanings.
, Lithuanian
, Ancient Greek
, Sanskrit
and Slavic languages
.
s, the was assimilated
to m before labial consonant
s (b, p), and to ŋ
, spelled n in Latin and γ in Ancient Greek, before velar consonant
s (g, k, qu). Latin "has broken" / "breaks", from , is an example of the first case.
show only vestiges of the nasal infix. However, it can still be seen in some pairs of Latin loanwords:
s (without an infix), their infixed present forms and the reflexes (corresponding forms) in an attested daughter language.
†The Latin reflexes of the PIE aorist came to be used as the perfect.
‡It is uncertain whether had a nasal infix already in PIE, since Greek is only attested after Homer
.
лечь (*lekti [root "leg"])(to lie down) : лягу (*lęgǫ)(I will lie down), сесть (*sĕsti [root "sĕd"])(to sit down) : сяду (*sędǫ)(I will sit down) (both e:en).
's constructed language
Quenya
, the nasal infix forms the past tense
of verbs ending in any consonant
besides -m, -n, or -r. Thus, cen- "to see" has the past tense cen-në, but mat- "to eat" has not *mat-në but the metathesised
ma⟨n⟩t-ë.
Nasal consonant
A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :...
or syllable that was inserted (infix
Infix
An infix is an affix inserted inside a word stem . It contrasts with adfix, a rare term for an affix attached to the end of a stem, such as a prefix or suffix.-Indonesian:...
ed) into the stem of a word in the Proto-Indo-European language
Proto-Indo-European language
The Proto-Indo-European language is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans...
, that has reflexes in several modern European languages. It served the inflection
Inflection
In grammar, inflection or inflexion is the modification of a word to express different grammatical categories such as tense, grammatical mood, grammatical voice, aspect, person, number, gender and case...
al purpose of forming tense
Grammatical tense
A tense is a grammatical category that locates a situation in time, to indicate when the situation takes place.Bernard Comrie, Aspect, 1976:6:...
.
Proto-Indo-European
In the Proto-Indo-European languageProto-Indo-European language
The Proto-Indo-European language is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans...
(PIE), the nasal infix is one of several means to form the athematic
Athematic
In the Indo-European languages, thematic stems are stems ending in a theme vowel, a vowel sound that is always present between the stem of the word and the attached ending...
present tense
Present tense
The present tense is a grammatical tense that locates a situation or event in present time. This linguistic definition refers to a concept that indicates a feature of the meaning of a verb...
. It is inserted immediately before the last consonant of the zero-grade
Indo-European ablaut
In linguistics, ablaut is a system of apophony in Proto-Indo-European and its far-reaching consequences in all of the modern Indo-European languages...
root
Proto-Indo-European root
The roots of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language are basic parts of words that carry a lexical meaning, so-called morphemes. PIE roots always have verbal meaning like "to eat" or "to run", as opposed to nouns , adjectives , or other parts of speech. Roots never occur alone in the language...
.
The infix appeared as in the forms where a full-grade stem would be expected, and as in forms where zero-grade would be expected. For example, the PIE root "to win" would yield a nasal-infixed present stem .
These presents are called nasal infix presents or simply nasal presents and are typically active transitive
Transitivity (grammatical category)
In linguistics, transitivity is a property of verbs that relates to whether a verb can take direct objects and how many such objects a verb can take...
verbs, often with durative aspect.
Origins
Since the linguistic ancestor of PIE is not known, there can only be speculations about the origins of the nasal infix. It has been suggested that it arose from a suffix (also related to and ) which underwent metathesisMetathesis (linguistics)
Metathesis is the re-arranging of sounds or syllables in a word, or of words in a sentence. Most commonly it refers to the switching of two or more contiguous sounds, known as adjacent metathesis or local metathesis:...
.
Other present tense markers
Besides the nasal infix, PIE employs a number of affixAffix
An affix is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word. Affixes may be derivational, like English -ness and pre-, or inflectional, like English plural -s and past tense -ed. They are bound morphemes by definition; prefixes and suffixes may be separable affixes...
es to mark the present: , , , , , and others. All in all, PIE has at least 18 ways to form the present tense. For many verbs, several of these presents can be reconstructed simultaneously. For example, Scottish Gaelic "to burn" goes back to , a present of the root which is also the source of Ancient Greek (lámpein) "to shine" via its nasal present .
It is not clear why there were so many different types of present forms with no or little discernible differences in meaning. The authors of the Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben
Lexikon der Indogermanischen Verben
The Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben is an etymological dictionary of the Proto-Indo-European verb. The first edition appeared in 1998, edited by Helmut Rix. A second edition followed in 2001. The book is based on the Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch by Julius Pokorny...
proposed that they were derived from a number of prior grammatical aspects with distinct (but lost) meanings.
Indo-European languages
The effects of the nasal infix can be seen in Indo-European languages like LatinLatin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, Lithuanian
Lithuanian language
Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they...
, Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
, Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
and Slavic languages
Slavic languages
The Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic...
.
Assimilation
In Latin as well as other daughter languageDaughter language
In historical linguistics, a daughter language is a language descended from another language through a process of genetic descent.-Examples:*English is a daughter language of Proto-Germanic, which is a daughter language of Proto-Indo-European....
s, the was assimilated
Assimilation (linguistics)
Assimilation is a common phonological process by which the sound of the ending of one word blends into the sound of the beginning of the following word. This occurs when the parts of the mouth and vocal cords start to form the beginning sounds of the next word before the last sound has been...
to m before labial consonant
Labial consonant
Labial consonants are consonants in which one or both lips are the active articulator. This precludes linguolabials, in which the tip of the tongue reaches for the posterior side of the upper lip and which are considered coronals...
s (b, p), and to ŋ
Velar nasal
The velar nasal is the sound of ng in English sing. It is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is N....
, spelled n in Latin and γ in Ancient Greek, before velar consonant
Velar consonant
Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum)....
s (g, k, qu). Latin "has broken" / "breaks", from , is an example of the first case.
Latin
Latin has a number of verbs with an n in the present stem which is missing in the perfect stem: "has won" / "wins" (from the PIE verb above) "has crushed" / "crushes" "has cut" / "cuts"Latin loanwords
English and the other Germanic languagesGermanic languages
The Germanic languages constitute a sub-branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all of the languages in this branch is called Proto-Germanic , which was spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe...
show only vestiges of the nasal infix. However, it can still be seen in some pairs of Latin loanwords:
- confuse – confound (Latin )
- impact – impinge (Latin , from )
- conviction – convince (Latin )
Examples
This table shows some examples of PIE root aoristAorist
Aorist is a philological term originally from Indo-European studies, referring to verb forms of various languages that are not necessarily related or similar in meaning...
s (without an infix), their infixed present forms and the reflexes (corresponding forms) in an attested daughter language.
| PIE | Reflexes in daughter languages (3rd person singular) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aorist | Present | Language | Aorist/perfect† | Present | Translation (present) |
| Latin | pours | ||||
| Latin | [ˈliːkʷit] | [ˈliŋkʷit] | leaves, quits | ||
| (?‡) | Ancient Greek | (é-labe) | (lambánei) | takes | |
| Sanskrit | a-yujat | yunákti | joins | ||
†The Latin reflexes of the PIE aorist came to be used as the perfect.
‡It is uncertain whether had a nasal infix already in PIE, since Greek is only attested after Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
.
Slavic languages
Only vestiges are left, like RussianRussian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
лечь (*lekti [root "leg"])(to lie down) : лягу (*lęgǫ)(I will lie down), сесть (*sĕsti [root "sĕd"])(to sit down) : сяду (*sędǫ)(I will sit down) (both e:en).
Quenya
In J. R. R. TolkienJ. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
's constructed language
Constructed language
A planned or constructed language—known colloquially as a conlang—is a language whose phonology, grammar, and/or vocabulary has been consciously devised by an individual or group, instead of having evolved naturally...
Quenya
Quenya
Quenya is a fictional language devised by J. R. R. Tolkien, and used in his Secondary world, often called Middle-earth.Quenya is one of the many Elvish languages spoken by the immortal Elves, called Quendi in Quenya. The tongue actually called Quenya was in origin the speech of two clans of Elves...
, the nasal infix forms the past tense
Past tense
The past tense is a grammatical tense that places an action or situation in the past of the current moment , or prior to some specified time that may be in the speaker's past, present, or future...
of verbs ending in any consonant
Consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are , pronounced with the lips; , pronounced with the front of the tongue; , pronounced with the back of the tongue; , pronounced in the throat; and ,...
besides -m, -n, or -r. Thus, cen- "to see" has the past tense cen-në, but mat- "to eat" has not *mat-në but the metathesised
Metathesis (linguistics)
Metathesis is the re-arranging of sounds or syllables in a word, or of words in a sentence. Most commonly it refers to the switching of two or more contiguous sounds, known as adjacent metathesis or local metathesis:...
ma⟨n⟩t-ë.