Selected Archaisms of Verbal Word-Formation and Morphology in the Arcadian Dialect

Abstract

The paper focuses on the four perhaps most characteristic archaisms of Proto-Indo-European date in the Arcadian verbal system attested in the inscriptions IG 262 from Mantineia (5th cent. B.C.) and IG 343 from Orchomenos (4th cent. B.C.). The archaisms are considered from the diachronic point of view by means of the comparative method and linguistic reconstruction. The aim of this paper is to reconstruct, when feasible, the individual lexemes or segments at the relevant prehistoric stages (Proto-Indo-European, Proto-Greek and Proto-Arcado-Cypriot/Proto-Arcadian), and to point out the correlation between the respective Arcadian archaism(s) and the innovative forms attested in the greater part of other Ancient Greek dialects. The object of this study is the following linguistic phenomena, lexemes, and segments respectively: (1) the o-vocalism in the primary medial 3 Sg.&Pl. endings (Arc. -τοι and -ντοι), (2) the active subjunctive with secondary endings (on the example of the Arc. form κακρίνη), (3) the 1 Sg. Opt. Act. ending (on the example of the Arc. form ἐξελαύνοια), and (4) the Acc. Pl. F. Ptcp. Pres. Act. of the verb ‘be’ (on the example of the Arc. form ἐάσας). The Appendix provides the relevant inscriptions IG 262 and IG 343 in their original form and their Slovenian translation.