The Indo-European Elements in Hurrian

6. Verbal Morphology 67
2. The Hurrian 2nd person singular/plural endings are derived from the 2nd person personal
pronoun stem we- ‘you’ discussed above.
3. Hurrian 3rd person singular/plural -a < *-e (Friedrich 1969a:17 gives -(Ô)a): For Pre-Indo-
European, Lehmann (2002:170—171) reconstructs two sets of verb endings that distinguish
the active conjugation from the stative conjugation:
Active Stative
1st person sg. *-m *-Høe (Lehmann writes *-χ-e)
2nd person sg. *-s *-tHøe (Lehmann writes *-tχe)
3rd person sg. *-t *-e
3rd person pl. *-nt *-r
Note the stative (the “perfect” of traditional Indo-European) 3rd person singular ending *-e.
It is this form that is to be compared with the Hurrian ending.
4. Note once again the Hurrian plural marker -(a)š. This, too, has a parallel in Proto-Indo-
European verb morphology; compare the Sanskrit dual and plural personal endings ending in
-s (cf. Burrow 1973:306—307): 1st person dual active primary -vas, 2nd person dual active
primary -thas, 3rd person dual active primary -tas; 1st person plural active primary -mas(i)
(Latin -mus; Greek -μες): bhárāmas (Vedic also bhárāmasi) ‘we bear’ (Latin ferimus; Greek
[Doric] φέρομες), smás (Vedic also smási) ‘we are’ (Latin sumus), imás ‘we go’ (Greek
[Doric] nμες; Latin īmus). This -s is also found in the 2nd plural present indicative active
ending -tis (< *-te-s) in Latin: ītis ‘you go’, datis ‘you give’, vultis ‘you want’, estis ‘you
are’, portātis ‘you carry’, etc. Likewise, Gothic 1st dual present indicative bairōs (< *bherō-wes
[cf. Sanskrit bhárāvas]) ‘the two of us carry’, 2nd dual present indicative bairats (<
*bher-e-t(h)es [cf. Sanskrit bhárathas) ‘the two of you carry’.
Non-finite Hurrian Verb Suffixes and Indo-European Parallels
Apart from finite verbal forms, Hurrian has a certain number of non-finite formations
which have clear Indo-European parallels. They are equivalent to participles, and they have the
lexical fluidity of participles: they can be either used as nouns, adjectives, gerunds, or be the
predicate in equative-stative sentences.
1. The first one is a present participle -m-, which expresses simultaneous action and can be
further suffixed with -ae in circumstancial use:
a) alila- ‘to cry (out), to whine’, hence ‘whining’ KBo 32.15 Vo IV 9
b) kunzi- ‘to kneel’, 91 hence ‘(while) kneeling’ KBo 32. 15 Vo IV 13
c) ¯až- ‘to hear’, hence ‘(on) hearing (it)’ KBo 32.15 Vo IV 8
91 Note that this verb has the transitive valency probably because it means ‘to bend (the knees)’.