(no subject)
The usual word for and in Latin was et, of course, which is what has survived into the daughter languages. But one of my favourite features of Latin is their alternative word for and, the -que which was tacked on to other words. It features most famously, perhaps, in The Aeneid's opening line:
Arma virumque cano
Which needs a full eight seven! words in English: "Of arms and the man I sing". And again in the second line, Italiam ... Laviniaque venit litora, "(I) came to Italian and Lavine shores". How elegant is that! Just to stick the little -que on the end there. . .so neat. Linguists no doubt refer to it as a conjunctive enclitic, or a copulative particle, or something.
What I didn't realise until recently was that a cognate existed in Proto-Germanic, in the form of a velar fricative of some kind (this is all through regular sound-changes), usually written *-h or *-x. Sadly, it didn't survive anywhere except Gothic, which has now also gone.
However, there are traces left in English. At least one, anyway: though, which etymologically means something like "and in that case", the -gh being a remnant of that delightfully subtle conjunction.
Can anyone think of any other examples of this Germanic *-h? I certainly can't, but to be honest I've only been thinking about it for the last hour an a half, and I'm sure there must be some.
Arma virumque cano
Which needs a full eight seven! words in English: "Of arms and the man I sing". And again in the second line, Italiam ... Laviniaque venit litora, "(I) came to Italian and Lavine shores". How elegant is that! Just to stick the little -que on the end there. . .so neat. Linguists no doubt refer to it as a conjunctive enclitic, or a copulative particle, or something.
What I didn't realise until recently was that a cognate existed in Proto-Germanic, in the form of a velar fricative of some kind (this is all through regular sound-changes), usually written *-h or *-x. Sadly, it didn't survive anywhere except Gothic, which has now also gone.
However, there are traces left in English. At least one, anyway: though, which etymologically means something like "and in that case", the -gh being a remnant of that delightfully subtle conjunction.
Can anyone think of any other examples of this Germanic *-h? I certainly can't, but to be honest I've only been thinking about it for the last hour an a half, and I'm sure there must be some.