42 The Ancient Languages of Europe
(*% “to place,” present); d
ˆ
¯unai (= “to give,” aorist); ¯e
.
d´enai (C% “to know,”
perfect). The origin of the formant -(e)nai is disputed – perhaps arising from a particle
∗
-ai
appended to an n-stem, perhaps from a locative in
∗
-eneh
2
-i. The active infinitive of sigmatic
aorists terminates in -sai (-), which perhaps preserves the particle
∗
-ai mentioned above,
or again is perhaps to be traced to a locative. The middle infinitives – present, future, aorist,
and perfect; thematic and athematic – end in -st
h
ai (-*), often conjectured to be related
to Indo-Iranian infinitives in
∗
-d
h
yai (as the aorist active -sai has been conjectured to be so
related).
4.2.11 Participles
Active,middle, and passive (or middle-passive)participles occur in thepresent,future,aorist,
and perfect tenses, and are inflected for all three genders. The active participle of the present,
future, and aorist is formed with the suffix -nt- (--). When attached to a thematic stem,
the stem bears the o-grade of the thematic vowel: for example, the present active participles
p
h
´er-o-nt-os (%AAA$ “carrying,” gen. masc./neut. sg.); p
h
´er-¯o n (%A, nom. masc.
sg. from
∗
p
h
er-o-nt-s, with irregular lengthening of the final vowel); p
h
´er-¯us-a (%AA
, nom. fem. sg. from
∗
p
h
er-o-nt-ya). As the preceding examples illustrate, the masculine
and neuter active participles have the expected consonant-stem inflection; feminines follow
the inflection of (first declension) nouns of the
∗
-ih
2
/yeh
2
- type. Sigmatic aorists form the
present active participle with a formant -ant- rather than
∗
-at- (as expected by regular
sound change, from
∗
-s -n
˚
t-) under the influence of thematic stems: l
´
¯
¨u-s-ant-os (
PAAA
$, “releasing,” gen. masc./neut. sg.). The perfect active participle is formed with a suffix
∗
-wos- (prior to the disappearance of Attic w) in the masculine and neuter, zero-grade -us-
in the feminine: ¯e
.
d-§ s (CA<$ “knowing,” nom. masc. sg., from
∗
weid-w¯os); ¯e
.
d-uˆıa (CA),
nom. fem. sg., from
∗
wid-us-ih
2
). Middle participles are formed utilizing a thematic suffix
-meno-.
4.2.12 Verbal adjectives
In various daughter languages, including Greek, verbal adjectives developed from the
Proto-Indo-European stem formant consisting of -grade of the root plus the suffix
∗-t´o-. While the original sense was passive, the Greek verbal adjective came to express
active notions as well, and lacked the root constraint of the parent language: kl¨u-t´o-s
(A&A$, “heard of, famous”); p
h
il¯e -t´o-s (A&A$ “to be loved”); pis-t´o-s (A&A$,“to
be believed; believing”). This is perhaps the same suffix used in the formation of ordi-
nals and superlatives. Adjectives indicating necessity are formed with a suffix -t´eo-, of dis-
puted origin though frequently linked to Sanskrit -tavya-: grap-t´eo-s (A%A$ “must be
written”).
4.3 Adverbs
Attic, like other Greek dialects, productively forms adverbs from adjectives utilizing a for-
mant -¯o s: kak´os (&$ “bad”), kak
ˆ
¯os ('$ “ill”); h¯e d
¨us (E#$ “sweet”), h¯e de
´
¯o s (E<$
“sweetly”). For the comparative adverb, the accusative neuter singular of the comparative
adjective is used, and for the superlative adverb, the accusativeneuter plural of the superlative