HISTORICAL GRAMMAR OF OLD PRUSSIAN

HISTORICAL GRAMMAR OF OLD PRUSSIAN
Pr. (Cat.) gen. pl. *-an was supported by its phonetic coincidence
with Pr. (Cat.) acc. sg. *-an, both forming so-called “general case” [casus
generalis (acc. sg. = gen. pl.)]. It was the latter a-stem pattern, according
to which an innovative i-stem gen. pl. (Cat.) *-in (cf. nidruwîngin III
121 ) came into being.
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* 100. Acc. pl. (masc.) Pr. *-ans (with undoubtful -‹an) is
attested in the Catechisms, cf.: Deiwans (I, II, III) ‘deities’, t`wans (III)
‘fathers’, etc., adj. maldans ‘young’, etc. This -ans cannot be easily put
into connection with EBalt. acc. pl. -us (Lith. têvus = Latv. t…ev-us), plg.
Bûga III 703 (although the problem of Pr. -ans is not discussed),
Endzelîns BVSF 117, Stang Vergl. Gr. 186, Kazlauskas LKIG 176.
I should like to reconstruct Balt. acc. pl. masc. *-#ôns which, in course
of development, manifested in 2 allomorphs (cf. ** 18, 19):
1) as an accented Balt. *-×#ôns > EBalt. *-×#ôs40 > Lith.-Latv. -us (cf.
Endzelîns l. c., Stang l. c., Kazlauskas l.c.), and
2) as an unaccented Balt. *-#`ns > WBalt. *-#`ns > Pr. -ans (cf. Stang
l. c.). This WBalt. *-#`ns coincided with WBalt. acc. pl. fem. *-#`ns41 which
had replaced an older WBalt. *-#`s < Balt. *-#`s (> Lith.-Latv. -as), cf. BS
185 ff., 311 f.
* 101. Rosinas BÁM 82 ff. (with bibliograhy) has formulated a
hypothesis that Pr. acc. pl. masc. -ans goes back to Balt. *-ôs which, when
unstressed, turned into WBalt. *-`s, but the latter, due to “secondary nasalization”,
turned into Pr. *-…às, spelled as -ans in the Catechisms.
40 V. Maþiulis explains East-Baltic denasalization in *-×#ôns due to mostly redundant character of
its -n- in plural in the opposition acc. sg. *-an : acc. pl. *-×#ôns, cf. BS 188. For an alternative view
that Eastern Baltic never possessed acc. pl. *-×#ôns but developed its acc. pl. *-×#ôs independently,
cf. Palmaitis BGR 100 f. – L.P.
41 The assumption of this secondary acc. pl. fem. *-#`ns in Western Baltic had to explain the
survival (due to systemic reasons) of acc. pl. masc. *-#`ns in spite of its redundant -n- (BS ibid.).
For an alternative view of -n- formally transferred into Prussian masculine and feminine plural in
accordance with the pattern *-an in singular, cf. Palmaitis ibid. – L.P.
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