I discovered in Thomas Mann's Czech Historical Grammar a list of PIE noun suffixes and the types of nouns which, broadly speaking, they applied to. Tus -os created nouns with active function, -is created nouns of common gender and nouns which were parts or derivatives or larger objects, and feminine nouns, among other things:
- had passive and negative function
- had no definite shape
- were hollow or containers
More: -u formed liquids, and -on/-en formed nouns which were associated with or derived from others.
To what extent should this classification be trusted?
What PIE apparently used gender for
What PIE apparently used gender for
Zompist's Markov generator wrote:it was labelled" orange marmalade," but that is unutterably hideous.
Re: What PIE apparently used gender for
I can't answer the question, but the list seems incomplete to me.
BTW in -is and -os, does the s represent the nominative singular ending (marking gender) or is it part of the stem? If the latter, then the list probably isn't reliable.
BTW in -is and -os, does the s represent the nominative singular ending (marking gender) or is it part of the stem? If the latter, then the list probably isn't reliable.
"The sable is empty, and his Norse is gone!" -- kathrynhr