tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Jan 06 16:37:27 2001
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the word `dative'
[email protected]:
> in a separate message from the same day:
> < I don't have a problem with using words like ``dative'' around beginners,
> < but they should be translated from the Latin.
> it sounds like you're saying it's okay to use words like 'dative', and
> then saying words like 'dative' shouldn't be used. 'dative' is not a
> latin word, it's english, despite its latin origin.
What I meant was that this is one of those words where translating the
etymology really does help. It comes from the Latin word ``give'', so the
paradigm example (case example, I guess) should involve that word.
You will probably keep using the word ``dative'', but it's good to know
where it comes from.
> < Dative is the ``giving case''; it marks the recipient of the giving.
> 'giving case' is not a standard grammar term
It was intended as a rough gloss of the standard term ``casus dativus''.
> it has a less specific meaning until you give it a definition, so you may
> as well you 'dative' anyway.
``giving case'' has the same mnemonic advantage to an English-speaker that
``casus dativus'' has to the Latin-speaker.
And as a native speaker of an inflected language, it amazes me sometimes
the convolutions people will go through to avoid saying ``suffix 5 is the
case marker and -vaD is the dative case''.
Jiri
--
Jiri Baum <[email protected]>
I can't figure out whether keeping all my friends in a tickle file would be
horribly impersonal or over-familiar.