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The Future Perfect in Oscan and Umbrian, and the Ō‐ Perfect in South Picene
Author(s) -
Zair Nicholas
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
transactions of the philological society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.333
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1467-968X
pISSN - 0079-1636
DOI - 10.1111/1467-968x.12032
Subject(s) - suffix , linguistics , computer science , history , philosophy
Oscan and Umbrian have a future perfect suffix ‐ us ‐/– ur– . Although various sources for this suffix have been suggested, none satisfactorily explain its origin. This article evaluates these previous attempts and makes a new proposal: the Oscan and Umbrian future perfect can be identified as a perfect suffix * ‐ō‐ plus the future suffix * ‐s‐ . The perfect suffix * ‐ō‐ , although not directly attested in Oscan and Umbrian, is found in the related language South Picene. The origin of the * ‐ō‐ suffix is traced back to inherited perfects of the type 3sg. * Ce‐CoH‐e , e.g. * de‐doh 3 ‐e ‘gave’ > * dedō → Umbrian teřust ‘(s)he will have given’, with subsequent reanalysis of the root vowel *‐ ō ‐ as a suffix. A parallel for this development is found in Gaulish.