Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben

The "Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben" ("LIV", "Lexicon of the Indo-European Verbs") is an etymological dictionary of the Proto-Indo-European verb. The first edition appeared in 1998, edited by Helmut Rix. A second edition (ISBN 3-89500-219-4) followed in 2001. The book is based on the "Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch" ("IEW") by Julius Pokorny. It was the first Indo-European dictionary with reconstructions based exclusively on laryngeal theory.Fact|date=August 2008

The "LIV"'s hypothesis about aspect

The authors of the "LIV" assume a dichotomy between "telic" verbs (terminated: for example, PIE|"*leh₂p-" "to light up") and "atelic" verbs (ongoing: for example, PIE|"*bʰeh₂-" "to shine") in early stages of Proto-Indo-European. Before the daughter languages split off, "aspect" emerged as a new grammatical category.

Telic verbs were interpreted as aorist forms, and the missing present was formed with various suffixes (for example, PIE|"*leh₂p-": "*l̥h₂p-sḱé-") and the nasal infix (PIE|"*l̥h₂-né-p-") all of which are supposed to come from old grammatical forms of uncertain meaning.

Atelic verbs were interpreted as present forms, and the missing aorist was formed with the suffix "-s-", yielding the sigmatic aorist.

This hypothesis is used to explain various phenomena:
*Some verbs in Indo-European languages form root presents (Latin _la. "dūcō" "I pull, I lead", from PIE PIE|"*deu̯k-", "*duk-") and derived sigmatic aorists (perfect forms in Latin: _la. "dūxī" "I have pulled, I have lead", pronounced "dūksī", from PIE|"*déu̯k-s-").
*Other verbs form root aorists (Latin _la. "vīcī" "I have won", pronounced "vīkī", from PIE|"*u̯ei̯k-", "*u̯ik-") and derived present forms ( _la. "vincō" "I win", from PIE|"*u̯i-n-k-", with nasal infix).
*For many PIE verbs, various present forms can be reconstructed without discernible differences in meaning (like PIE|"*l̥h₂-né-p-" and PIE|"*l̥h₂p-sḱé-" above, both forms have attested reflexes in IE languages: Greek _gr. "λάμπω" "I shine" and Proto-Celtic _ce. "*laske-" "to shine, burn" > Scottish Gaelic _gd. "loisg" "to burn", respectively).

In addition to the present and the aorist, the following aspects are assumed:
*Perfect
*Causative-Iterative
*Desiderative
*Intensive (repetition)
*Fientive (onset of a new state)
*Essive (persistent state)

Lemmata

The lexical part contains for each verbal root
*the conjectured meaning,
*reconstructed stems with their reflexes in the daughter languages,
*extensive footnotes (with references, remarks on alternative and dubious reconstructions, etc.),
*the page number of the corresponding "IEW" entry.

Indices

The book includes
*a regressive root index,
*an index of reconstructed primary stems, sorted by aspect and formation rule,
*an index of reflexes in the daughter languages, sorted by language.

Reception and criticism

*Seebold [Seebold, E (1999). "IF" (104): 287-295.] claims insufficient evidence for roots reconstructed from a single daughter language. Helmut Rix insists in the preface to the second edition that the assessment of the evidence should be left to the reader. [cite book|last=Rix|first=H|title=Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben|edition=2|pages=34]

*Seebold also criticises some of the conjectured meanings, which Rix calls basically legitimate. [cite book|last=Rix|first=H|title=Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben|edition=2|pages=35]

*Meier-Brügger [cite book|last=Meier-Brügger|first=M|title=Indogermanische Sprachwissenschaft|edition=7|pages=F103] tentatively calls the "LIV"'s aspect hypothesis "adequate and capable of consensus" ("adäquat und konsensfähig"), without agreeing on all of the details of the analysis.

*Fortson [cite book|last=Fortson|first=BW|title=Indo-European Language and Culture|publisher=Blackwell|date=2004|pages=99] calls the "LIV" " [v] ery useful and up-to-date — though in various places controversial", but does not elaborate on the "controversial places".

See also

*Proto-Indo-European language
*Proto-Indo-European root
*Proto-Indo-European verb

Other PIE dictionaries

*"Grundriß der vergleichenden Grammatik der indogermanischen Sprachen" (published 1886-1916 by Karl Brugmann and Berthold Delbrück)
*"Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch" ("IEW", first published 1956 by Julius Pokorny), with pre-larnygealistic reconstructions
*"Indogermanisches Wörterbuch" (first published 1980 by Gerhard Köbler), based on the "IEW" and including laryngealistic reconstructions, but only as alternative lemmata with cross references to the pre-laryngealistic ones
* in Wiktionary, having genuine laryngealistic reconstructions

External links

* [http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/ielex/PokornyMaster-X.html Pokorny PIE Data] (University of Texas)
* [http://www.koeblergerhard.de/idgwbhin.html "Indogermanisches Wörterbuch" by Gerhard Köbler]

References