Sample Presentation on Word Formation Abstract Feminine Nouns Ending - - PDF document

Sample Presentation on Word Formation Abstract Feminine Nouns Ending in –sunh.

• A. Introduction and semantic value: According to Buck and Petersen, these noun

formations are “best connected with the neuter abstracts in Skt. -tvana.”1 The majority of these nouns are derived from words ending in --wn, though some come from other stems as noted below. They are prominent in poetry, but Buck and Petersen suggest that prose avoids “such as were not derived from on-stems.”2 Semantically, these are abstract nouns which derive from secondary stems, but “have a tendency to a dynamic meaning and so to approach the verbal abstracts in their uses, but without the verbal associations

• f the latter.”3 Smyth notes that these abstract nouns express the quality of the

nouns/adjectives from which they derive; hence, they are similar in meaning to our English words ending in -ness, -hood.4 Palmer says that these nouns were productive in expressing personal qualities and enriched the moral/philosophical vocabulary of Ionic prose.5

• B. Morphological prolegomena
• 1. According to both Pietersma and Smyth, these nouns are properly the feminine

form of the adjective ending in the formative suffix -suv

no~.6 Chantraine7 indicates that

this adjective formation was not productive; however, its importance lies in having given rise to the noun formations with which we are dealing. The accent is paroxytone (acute

• n the penult).
• 2. Declension pattern: These feminine nouns follow the first declension.

1Carl Buck and Walter Peterson, A Reverse Index of Greek Nouns and

• Adjectives. (Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1984), 289.

2Ibid., 289. 3Ibid.

• 4H. W. Smyth, Greek Grammar, rev.G. M. Messing (Cambridge, MA: Harvard

University Press, 1920, 1956), 231. See §840.b.

• 5L. R. Palmer, The Greek Language (Boston: Faber and Faber, 1980), 251.

6Albert Pietersma, “Handout #12,” Handouts on the Greek Language [on-line];

accessed 12 October 2001; available from http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~pietersm/ index.htm; Internet. See also Smyth, Greek Grammar, 231, §840.b.3.(b).

• 7P. Chantraine, La formation des noms en Grec ancien (Paris: E. Champion,

1933), 210.

sing. plural nom.

aJ gi wsuv nh aJ gi wsuv nai

gen.

aJ gi wsuv nh~ aJ gi wsunw` n

dat.

aJ gi wsuv nh/ aJ gi wsuv nai ~

acc.

aJ gi wsuv nhn aJ gi wsuv na~

• C. Formation: The suffix -suv

nh is always preceded by -o-. The following is a

categorization of the various ways these nouns were formed.

• 1. From the stems of nouns or adjectives ending in -wn, -on. -wn becomes -
• suv

nh. aj cr hm

• o-suv

nh (want of money) < adj. aj cr hv m wn, -on (poor, needy) swf r -o-suv nh (soundness of mind, discretion, prudence) < adj. swv f r wn, -

• n (of sound mind, discreet, prudent)

t ekt -o-suv nh (carpentry) < noun oJ t ev kt wn (carpenter, worker in wood) ej l ehm

• o-suv

nh (pity, mercy) < adj ej l ehv m wn,-on (pitiful, merciful)

• 2. From the stems of masculine nouns ending in –o~. Drop -o~ and add –osuv

nh. i J pp-o-suv nh (horsemanship) < oJ

i {

ppo~ (horse) doul -o-suv nh (slavery) < adj. doul ov suno~ (enslaved) > oJ dou` l o~ (slave)

• 3. From the stem of neuter nouns ending in -o~. Drop -o~ and add -osuv

nh. t ar b-o-suv nh (fright) < t ov t av r bo~ (alarm, terror, awe, reverence)8

• 4. From the stems of neuter nouns ending in -on. Drop -on and add -osuv

nh.

t ox-o-suv

nh (bowmanship, archery) < t ov t ov xon (bow)

• 5. From the stems of masculine first declension nouns ending in -h~. Drop -h~

and add -osuv

nh. kl ept -o-suv nh (thievery) < oJ kl ev pt h~ (thief).

8LSJ says that these two nouns are identical in meaning (1758).

• 6. From the stems of masculine adjectives ending in -uv

~. Drop -uv v ~ and add -

• suv

nh. br i q-o-suv nh (heaviness) < br i quv ~, -ei ` a, -uv

(heavy)

• 7. From the stem of feminine noun ending in -t i ~, -si ~. Here, -i ~ > -osuv

nh m ant -o-suv nh (art of divination) < oJ m av nt i ~ (prophet, presager)

• D. Interesting forms:
• 1. Instance of contraction where we see -w- instead of -o- preceding -suv

nh. i J er -w-suv nh (Att., priesthood) < *i J er hüo-suv nh < i J er euv ~ (priest)

And by analogy, according to Buck and Petersen (but BDF explains this as lengthening of -o- following short vowel9 to avoid succession of short vowels):

aJ gi wsuv nh (LXX, NT, holiness, sanctity) < a{ gi o~ (sacred, holy) aj gaqwsuv nh (NT, goodness) < aj gaqov ~ (good)

• 2. Built from the stem of the adj. m

ev ga~, which in the nom./acc. masc. and neut.

has an altered stem and follows the third declension. It has the normal stem in the

• fem. and the other masc./neut. forms and follows the first and second declensions

respectively (cf. Brooks and Winbery, §132).

m egal -w-suv nh (greatness, majesty) < m ev ga~ (< root *m egal o, big, great)

• 9F. W. Blass and A. Debrunner, A Greek Grammar of the New Testament and

Other Early Christian Literature, ed. and trans. R. W. Funk, 9th -10th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961), 60. Cf. Moulton-Howard §145, 358.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Blass, F. W., and A. Debrunner. A Greek Grammar of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. 9th -10th ed. Edited and translated by R. W. Funk. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961. Brooks, James A., and Carlton L. Winbery. A Morphology of New Testament Greek: A Review and Reference Grammar. Lanham: University Press of America, 1994. Buck, Carl D., and Walter Petersen. A Reverse Index of Greek Nouns and Adjectives. Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1984. Chantraine, P. La formation des noms en Grec ancien. Paris: E. Champion, 1933. Moulton, J. H., and W. F. Howard. A Grammar of New Testament Greek, vol. II. Accidence and Word-Formation. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1979. Palmer, L. R. The Greek Language. Boston: Faber and Faber, 1980. Pietersma, Albert. “Handout #12.” Handouts on the Greek Language [on-line]. Accessed 12 October 2001. Available from http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/ ~pietersm/index.htm; Internet. Robertson, A. T. A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical

• Research. 4th ed. Nashville: Broadman Press, 1934, 1971.

Smyth, H. W. Greek Grammar. Revised by G. M. Messing. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1920, 1956. Wright, Joseph. Comparative Grammar of the Greek Language. London: Oxford University Press, 1912.