Old Moesian (NP: Aorist/Perfect System)

[dhok]

Moesian was a branch of the Indo-European family spoken in antiquity in what is now Bulgaria. The earliest inscriptions date from the 5th century BC, and become more numerous in the 3rd century. These trail off by the 5th century AD, but we are fortunate to have most of a translation of the New Testament, plus some of the Old, from the early 4th century. The death blow was probably the Slavic invasions; the last inscription dates from the early 8th century. All of these texts were written in the Greek alphabet.

Rather than go in the usual order from phonology to nouns to verbs, we'll start with the verbs; this will also allow the peanut gallery to speculate on the historical phonology for entertainment before I unveil it. Like Phrygian, Moesian has both an r-passive and a past-tense augment from *(h₁)e. There is a future developed from the subjunctive, a subjunctive/irrealis from the optative, and an imperfective-perfective aspect distinction in the past tense, with the perfective developing from a mishmash of aorist and perfect forms. There's also your usual range of participles and an "infinitive"/verbal noun cognate to the Latin supine and Sanskrit -tu-infinitive.

Old Moesian is also noticeable for retaining root presents to a greater extent than any branch other than Anatolian or Indo-Iranian.

THE PRESENT

Let's start by throwing some paradigms at you. Generally speaking, root presents can be divided into those ending in a vowel and those ending in a consonant; the former take the 1sg ending -μι, the latter -ο. (There are two exceptions- "to be" and "to go".)

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"to stand"    	"to carry"
σθάμι σθαμές	βάρο  βραμές
σθάσι σταθά	βάρσι βραθά
στάθι σθέδι	βάρθι βρέδι

"to be"        "to go"
άσο  σμές   άιο ιμές
άσι   σθά    έσι ιθά
άσθι σέδι    έθι ζέδι

"to kill"	     "to say"
γάνο γναμές   βάμι βαμές
γάζι  γναθά    βάσι βαθά
γάδι  γνέδι     βάθι βέδι

The basic endings are:

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-ο/-μι -μες
-σι      -θα
-θι      -εδι

For root presents, there's often a difference in stem between the singular and plural, and there's an accent switch, too. In the 3sg and 2pl, the theta of the endings can trigger Grassmann's Law in the root. Additionally, stems ending in a nasal, like γάνο "I kill," have a /d/ instead of a /tʰ/ in the 3sg (and no Grassmann's Law, not that you can see it from the examples). You'd expect a /d/ in the 2pl, too, but this has been analogized out; κάμο is another example.

"To be" and "to go" are, synchronically, basically completely irregular.

Basically in the same class are verbs which have thematic plurals but athematic singulars. The thematic vowel was imported in the plural to prevent nasty consonant clusters which are easier to resolve in the singular.

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"to come"	"to sleep"
κάμο  κμεμές 	σπάφο  σουφεμές
κάβζι κμαθά 	σπάψι  σουπαθά
κάβδι κμέδι 	σπάπθι σουφέδι

(As you can see, synchronic irregularities still remain. They've mostly been shaken out, though- e.g. you'd expect a 2sg **καδά for κάμο, but the /m/ gets restored by analogy with the 1st and 3rd plural forms.)

Reduplicated presents are reasonably frequent:

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"to give"	"to place"
τίτομι τιταμές 	δίδεμι διδαμές
τίτοσι τιταθά	δίδεσι διδαθά
τίτοθι τιτέδι 	δίδεθι διδέδι

...though a few of them are thematic, like "to sit".

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"to sit"
σίστο   σίστεμες
σίστασι σίσταθα
σίσταθι σίστεδι

This is also the pattern found in normal thematics like "to sweat":

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"to sweat"
σπέτο   σπίτεμες
σπέτασι σπίταθα
σπέταθι σπίτεδι

(Ablaut between singular and plural is universal except in denominatives and other secondary formations, unless the verb stem has inherited identical e- and zero-grades.)

Additionally, there is a reasonably large class of secondary verbs without ablaut or thematic vowel gradation, such as χράσνεθι "to be black". (Accent shift has been generalized, though.)

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"to be black"
χράσνεμι χρασνεμές
χράσνεσι χρασνεθά
χράσνεθι χρασνέδι

The passive has the endings:

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-ρ  -μερ
-σαρ   -θαρ
-θαρ   -δαρ

The stem used in the present is always the active plural. If the active plural takes thematic vowels (not counting the 3pl), these will be used in the mediopassive. (The 1sg thematic vowel is ε). Thematic vowels are always used to resolve cluster headaches.


"to be given"
τίταρ τιταμέρ
τίτασαρ τιταθάρ
τίταθαρ τιταδάρ


Note that although the 3sg and 2pl have the same ending, they're usually easily distinguished by changes in accent.

THE IMPERFECT

If you know Greek or Sanskrit, the imperfect should come as no particular difficulty. Just add the augment α- to the active plural stem and add the following endings.

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-(ε)ν -(ε)μες
-(α)ς -(α)θα
-(α)τ -(ε)ν

Accent-shift has been imported from the present.

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άτιταν ατιταμές
άτιτας ατιταθά
άτιτατ ατιτάν

The imperfect passive is in all respects exactly like the active, except that it has passive endings.

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άτιταρ   ατιταμέρ
άτιτασαρ ατιταθάρ
άτιταθαρ ατιταδάρ

"To be" has a reasonably irregular imperfect:

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άσαν ασμές
άς   ασθά
άστ  ασάν

Sometimes the augment and stem merge, particularly when a vowel is involved. Thus the imperfect stem of "to go" is ε-.

THE FUTURE
The future is formed from the (late-stage) PIE subjunctive. It is formed from the singular active stem, regardless of voice or number, and replaces the thematic vowels -ɛ- and -α- with -ο- and -ɛ-, respectively, when they show up. The accent is always on the stem.

Normally athematic verbs whose active singular stems end in a consonant are thematized, but with the normal thematic vowel (-ɛ- or -α-). For athematic verbs with a vowel-final stem, no thematic vowel can be added (as it can't be in the present singular).

The normal present endings are added, except that the 1sg active ending is -ο (or, in vowel-final athematics, no ending; cf. δίδε 'I will place').

The future active of vowel-final athematic τίτομι 'give', consonant-final athematic βάρο 'carry', and thematic σπέτο 'sweat' follow.

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τίτο	τίτομες	βάρο	βάρεμες σπέτο 	σπέτομες
τίτοσι	τίτοθα 	βάρασι	βάραθα	σπέτεσι	σπέτεθα
τίτοθι	τίτοδι 	βάρατι	βάρεδι	σπέτεθι	σπέτοδι

Towards the Late Moesian period (after about 250 AD), a periphrastic future formed with the present participle and future of the verb "to go" (άιο, άιασι, etc.) began to be used. The Moesian translation of the Bible is split about half-and-half.

The future passive is pretty straightforward:

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τίτορ 	τίτομερ βάρερ	βάρεμερ 	σπέτορ		σπέτομερ
τίτοσαρ	τίτοθαρ βάρασαρ βάραθαρ 	σπέτεσαρ	σπέτεθαρ
τίτοθαρ	τίτοδαρ βάραθαρ βάρεδαρ		σπέτεθαρ	σπέτεδαρ

άσο has a regular thematic future with stem άσ-.

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So, can we sort Old Moesian verbs into conjugations or a principle part system? As it happens, we can, at least for the present tense. There are four classes of present:

a) Vowel-final athematics like τίτομι, δίδεμι or σθάμι. We'll call these Class I.
b) Consonant-final athematics like βάρο, γάνο or σπάφο. Class II.
c) Thematics, usually ablauting, like σίστο, σπέτο or πάχο 'to cook'. Some of these, like πάχο, have identical singular and plural stems. Class III.
d) Secondary derivatives like χράσνεμι 'be black' or σάνεμι 'be old', which basically act like class I except that there's no stem variation. We'll refer to this as Class IV.

A special subtype of class III has a stem-final -σχ- in the citation form that becomes -σ before the thematic vowel -α-, as well as the future thematic -ɛ-. Examples include φράσχο 'to ask (for something)', with 2sg φράσασι. There is no ablaut.

Various Non-Finite Forms

A suffix -θου can be added, with intervening thematic -α- if necessary, to form an infinitive. This is really more of a verbal noun, neuter in gender, and can serve both as subject of the sentence and its object, as well as to express purpose (e.g. "I am buying paper to write a letter"). Two case-forms of the infinitive are also in use: an instrumental in -θε or (in the earlier attestations of the language) -θαɛ used for means (e.g. "By writing this letter, I hope to be accepted to my dream college"), as well as a locative in -θαϊ for simultaneous action ("While I was walking down the street/in the course of walking down the street, I saw my friend Bill").

A present active participle in -ός (oblique stem in -εδ-) can be formed from the weak (active plural) stem. For Class I verbs, add -ς to the strong (active singular) stem.

The present mediopassive participle, which declines like any o/a-stem adjective, can be formed by affixing -μανες/-μανα/-μανεν to the weak stem. For thematics, add the thematic vowel -ɛ-.

Bedtime! I'll try to update this tomorrow.

[Herra Ratatoskr]

Neat. I'm looking forward to seeing the info on phonology and the morpho-phonemic rules that seem to be at work here.

[dhok]

Continuing on to the perfect/aorist system, which is basically limited to the perfective indicative past, and also provides the 1st person forms of the imperative. The augment is generalized, although some verbs have a reduplicated stem derived from the perfect. Endings are:

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-α -αμα
-ας -αθα
-ατ -αν

As far as there is a thematic vowel, it's a generalized /a/, even in asigmatic aorists (which are basically limited to class III verbs, the root thematics). Accent is always on the augment, and there is no root gradation.

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"to carry"		"to leave behind" (pres. λέχο, λιχεμές)
άβρασα  άβρασαμα	άλιχα  άλιχαμα
άβρασας άβρασαθα	άλιχας άλικαθα
άβρασατ άβρασαν		άλιχατ άλιχαν

"to attempt" (pres. σφότο, σφουτεμές)
άσφουσα  άσφουσαμα
άσφουσας άσφουσαθα
άσφουσατ άσφουσαν

"to show" (pres. τέχο, τιχεμές)
άτατοχα  άτατοχαμα
άτατοχας άτατοκαθα
άτατοχατ άτατοχαν

"to see" (pres. σφάσο, σφασεμές)
άσφαξα  άσφαξαμα
άσφαξας άσφαξαθα
άσφαξατ άσφαξαν

"to choose" (pres. λάκο, λακεμές)
άλαλεκα  άλαλεκαμα
άλαλεκας άλαλεκαθα
άλαλεκατ άλαλεκαν

A few verbs have a usual perfective derived from the aorist, but also admit an unaugmented defective perfect formation with present meaning.

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"to have seen" (pres. πέτο, πιτεμές)
άϊτα  άϊταμα
άϊτας άϊταθα
άϊτατ άϊταν

"to know" (defective)
πότα  πόταμα
πότας πόταθα
πότατ πόταν

Synchronically, these are totally different verbs. The connection is a bit easier to see in άκμα 'I came' and κάκεμα 'I am present'.

'To be' has a regular perfective past έσα; 'to go' has a perfect-derived past έια.

The past passive was formed by sticking the present r-endings onto the thematic /a/. The endings are:

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-αρ   -αμερ
-ασαρ -αθαρ
-αθαρ -αδαρ

The passive takes the exact same stem as the active, with the augment and identical accent patterns:

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άβρασαρ   άβρασαμερ
άβρασασαρ άβρασαθαρ
άβρασαθαρ άβρασαδαρ

The Irrealis

Or, if you prefer, the subjunctive, except that the PIE subjunctive is the synchronic future, and this is derived from the optative. This only exists in the present tense except for 'to be', which has an aorist optative ασέν, 1pl ασίμα. The thematic vowel gets added to the present plural active stem, with constant accent and the following endings:

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ACTIVE		PASSIVE
-έν -ίμα	-έρ	-ίμερ
-ές -ίθα	-έσαρ	-ίθαρ
-έτ -ίν		-έθαρ	-ίδαρ

Note the extension of theme-vowel ablaut to the passive.

So:

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'to carry'
βρέν βρίμα	 βρέρ βρίμερ
βρές βρίθα	 βρέσαρ βρίθαρ
βρέτ βρίν	 βρέθαρ βρίδαρ

The present irrealis of 'to be' is σέν[/i], 1pl σίμα.

Verbs other than 'to be' form an aorist optative with the aorist optative of 'to be' along with the present participle.

The Imperative

The imperative is a bit complicated, mainly because it's formed from two different stems and has an aspect distinction. The imperfective imperative is formed from the present stem, and is identical to the future in the 1st person; the perfective imperative is formed from the past stem. Additionally, verb classes 1 and 2 have slightly different imperative endings than do classes 3 and 4.

Class 1/2 verbs add the following endings onto their active plural stems:

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2 -δí  -θά
3 -θου -δου

Note that the accent is on the ending in the 2nd person but the stem in the 3rd.

Class 3, the thematics, has the following endings:

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2 -α    -αθα
3 -αθου -εδου

Accent is always on the stem.

Class 4 has a variant of class 3:

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2 -Ø    -θα
3 -θου  -δου

1st-person imperatives are identical to the future in the imperfective and come from the same source (the old subjunctive).

The perfective imperative is formed from the unaugmented aorist/past perfective stem, to which is added the endings:

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1 -ε    -εμα
2 -α    -αθα
3 -αθου -εδου

These are basically the same as the Class 3 endings, with the 1st-person imperative endings deriving from old subjunctives.

Passive imperatives are rare and must be formed with a passive participle plus the imperative of 'to be', which is a bit irregular:

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1 άσο  άσεμες
2 ζδί  σθά
3 σθού ζδού

Negative imperatives are formed with the particle μέ along with the future: μέ μα γάνασι! 'Don't kill me!' There is no aspect distinction.

The irrealis may be used as a polite imperative: μο βρές πόνεσε. 'Please bring me some wine.'

Participles and Other Odds and Ends

There is a perfective passive participle formed with -θές/-θά/-θέν. Often irregular, it is essentially a principle part on its own. A perfective active participle has been created by adding -άς/-άδ- to the unaugmented perfective stem.

Old Moesian, like Latin, has four principle parts to each verb which allow one to form, or at least recognize, all its forms:

First principle part: 1sg present indicative active. Forms other singular present actives, the singular imperfect active, the future, and the infinitive. Also forms the active imperfective participle of class I presents.

Second principle part: 3pl present indicative active. Forms other plural present actives, the plural imperfect active, the imperfective irrealis, the 2nd and 3rd-person imperfective imperative, and all passive imperfectives except the future. Forms the passive imperfective participle, and the active imperfective participle of classes II, III and IV.

(Note that class III verbs which have a -σχ in their first and second principle parts will reduce this to -σ- in the 2sg, 3sg and 2pl present.)

Third principle part: 1sg aorist/perfect indicative active. Forms other aorists, the perfective imperative, and the aorist active participle.

Fourth principle part: the masculine nominative singular perfective passive participle. This one isn't really the base for other forms, but it's sufficiently irregular in a lot of verbs that it's worth setting it up as its own principle part.

For the really irregular verbs these won't get you every form, but they come close enough.

Some dictionary entries for verbs we've already seen, plus a couple others, in no particular order:

σθάμι, σθέδι, άσθασα, -- 'to stand' (no passive).
βάρο, βρέδι, άβρασα, βερθές 'to carry'.
άσο, σέδι, έσα, -- 'to be'.
λέχο, λιχέδι, άλιχα, λοκθές 'to abandon, leave behind'.
σφότο, σφουτέδι, άσφουσα, σποθές 'to attempt, try'.
τίτομι, τιτέδι, άτασα, τοθές 'to give'.
δίδεμι, διδέδι, άδασα, δοθές 'to put, place'.
άιο, ζέδι, έια, -- 'to go'.
κάμο, κμέδι, άκμα, -- 'to come'. Derived defective present-perfect κάκεμα 'be present'.
γάνο, γνέδι, άγαγενα, γεδές 'to kill.'
βάμι, βέδι, άβαβοσα, βοθές 'to say'.
σπάφο, σουφέδι, άσουσπεφα, -- 'to sleep'
πέτο, πιτέδι, άϊτα, ποθές 'to see/notice'. Derived present-perfect πότα 'know'.
σίστο, σιστέδι, άστα, -- 'to sit'.
σπέτο, σπιτέδι, άσπισα, σποθές 'to sweat'.
χράσνεμι, χρασνέδι, άχρασνεσα, -- 'to be black'.
πάχο, παχέδι, άφαξα, φεκθές 'to cook'.
σάνεμι, σανέδι, άσανεσα, -- 'be old'.
τέχο, τιχέδι, άθιτοχα, θοκθές 'to show'.
σφάσο, σφασέδι, άσφαξα, σφεκθές 'to look at'.
λάκο, λακέδι, άλαλεκα, λεκθές 'to choose'.
νέσαιο, νεσαιέδι, άνεσεσα, νεσεθές 'to murder'.
φράσχο, φρασχέδι, άφραξα, φρεκθές 'to ask (for something)'.
ζάβο, ιβέδι, άιαιεβα, ζεπθές 'futuere'.