Old Prussian dāt ‘give’ in causative and hortative constructions


Abstract

Extended uses of Old Prussian dāt ‘give’ are studied to demonstrate independent and German-influenced developments. The permissive function of this predicate is argued to be original and historically and areally shared by Baltic, Slavic and Finnic languages, while factitive and hortative constructions are regarded as copies of corresponding German lassen-constructions. The German influence is also seen in the coding of the causee when it is marked by the accusative instead of the original dative. In general, Old Prussian shows effects of interference with German lassen-constructions similar to the ones observed in West Slavic and western South Slavic languages (von Waldenfels 2015).

Keywords

verbs of possession transfer; periphrastic causative constructions; periphrastic hortative constructions; language contact; Old Prussian; German

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Published : 2017-12-31


Pakerys, J. (2017). Old Prussian dāt ‘give’ in causative and hortative constructions. Baltic Linguistics, 8, 115-141. https://doi.org/10.32798/bl.379

Jurgis Pakerys  jurgis.pakerys@flf.vu.lt
Vilnius University, Institute for the Languages and Cultures of the Baltic, Universiteto g. 3, LT-01513 Vilnius  Lithuania
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9944-8598