The Syntax of ‘Woe’in Indo-European

Jóhanna Barðdal (University of Bergen), Valgerður Bjarnadóttir (Stockholm University), Eystein Dahl (University of Bergen),

Thórhallur Eythórsson (University of Iceland), Chiara Fedriani (University of Pavia) & Thomas Smitherman (University of Bergen)

The Syntax of ‘Woe’ in Indo-European

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Bergen http://org.uib.no/iecastp/IECASTP 12–13. May 2011

Overview

•  Goals •  Object of Investigation – DAT-(is)-woe construction •  Syntactic Role of the Dative Argument

•  *wai in Indo-European •  The use of the DAT-(is)-woe construction

–  Germanic, Latin, Slavic, Baltic, Greek and Indo-Iranian

•  Word Order Variation •  Fronted Predicate Focus

•  Reconstruction

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Goals

•  To argue for the existence of argument structures where the first subject-like argument is not in the nominative case in Proto-Indo-European, but is non-canonically marked

•  To show how syntactic structures may be reconstructed for Proto-Indo-European, based on cognate lexical items and cognate argument structure constructions, i.e. inherited argument structure constructions consisting of the same syntactic form and the same meaning or function

•  To show how the theoretical framework of Construction Grammar may be employed for this purpose

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Object of Investigation

•  Dat-(is)-woe construction

vae victis Latin

woe conquered-ones.dat ‘Woe to the conquered ones’ (Livy, 5.48.9)

Immo uae tibi sit Latin

then woe you.dat is.3sg.subj

‘Then, you shall have woe’ (Plautus, Cas. 633)

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“Dative Subject Construction”

•  The First Argument of the Argument Structure Construction (Eythórsson & Barðdal 2005)

•  The S Argument in Dixon’s Typology

•  The only argument of intransitives •  Onishi (2001), Andrews (2001) treat dative-subject-like

arguments as S •  The first argument of so-called “transimpersonals” (Donohue

2008, Malchukov 2008, Mithun 2008, Nichols 2008)

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Subject Properties of the S Argument

•  Old Norse-Icelandic (Eythórsson & Barðdal 2005) •  Latin (Fedriani 2009, Dahl in prep) •  Sanskrit (Hock 1990)

•  Old Russian (Grillborzer 2010)

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*wai in Indo-European

•  Ancient interjection, found in Semitic and Kartvelian, in addition to the Indo-European languages

Vae vobis dicebatur ab antiquis, et ni nobis ‘Woe was an ancient exclamation, no longer used by ‘modern’ Romans’ (Paulus Diaconus, 6 century AD)

•  Onomatopoetic origin •  May still be inherited in the Indo-European daughters

–  Related forms (Pokorny 1959: 1111): •  fāed ‘a scream’ (Middle Irish) •  vajāt ‘to ache’ (Latvian) •  wajamērjan ‘to slander’ (Gothic) •  veill ‘weak’ (Old Norse-Icelandic)

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Etymology

•  Traditional reconstruction PIE *wai (Gmc, Latin, Celtic, Armenian, Albanian, Baltic, Slavic…)

•  Possibly reconstructable as *(H)woi

•  It may be possible to connect Greek oi (in oimoi (oimmoi)) to this form, and maybe even Homeric ō (in ō moi)

•  Gath. Avestan auuōi possibly reflecting *Hewoi, and Young Avestan auuōiia derived from this by vriddhi

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The Use of the DAT-(is)-woe construction

•  Used when something really bad happens to people •  Conveys anguish and consternation •  “Ausdruck des Jammers” (Hofmann 1936: 13)

•  1st person use: when the speaker feels as if he or she is in trouble, is ruined or lost

•  2nd/3rd person use: is most often used as an insult or to heap abuse on somebody

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Germanic

wai izwis þaim gabeigam (Greek: ouai humin…) Gothic woe you.dat the.dat rich.dat ‘woe to you, the rich’ (Luke 6,24)

Wa bið þæm þe sceal ... Old English woe is them.dat that shall ‘Woe have they that shall ...’ (Beowulf 183)

nú er oss vei, er vér erum hjalplausar Old Norse-Icelandic now is us.dat woe, as we are helpless ‘now we have woe, as we are helpless’ (Ridd 6534)

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Latin

Vae tibi, muricide homo woe you.dat coward.voc man.voc ‘Woe to you, you coward fellow!’ (Plautus, Epid. 333)

PA: Vae misero mihi! woe wretched.dat me.dat SO: Et miquidem: nam haec… and I.dat-also: for this ‘Woe to miserable me! – And woe to me! This ...’ (Terence, Hec. 605)

immo uae tibi sit then woe you.dat is.3sg.subj ‘Then, shall be woe to yourself !’ (Plautus, Cas. 633)

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Slavic

ouvy mьně ouvy mьně Old Church Slavonic woe me.dat woe me.dat ‘Woe to me, woe to me!’ (Supraliensis 78:27)

ouvy mně, jako uviděxь azь dьnьsь Old Russian woe me.dat for.that saw.1sg I.nom today ‘Woe to me, for I saw (it) today’ (Pand.Ant., 11th century, 206)

Uvy tebe, okan(i)nyi gorode Old Russian woe thee.dat unhappy.voc town.voc ‘Woe be to thee, o’ unhappy town’ (Povest vremennyx let: 107)

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Baltic

Aiman tos dienos! Lithuanian woe.me.dat these days.nom ‘Woe to me during these times!’ (Nesselmann 1851)

wai man nabbagam Latvian woe me.dat poor.dat ‘Woe to me, the poor’ (Stender 1789: 340)

meitai esuot vai kâ Latvian girl.dat be.subj woe right ‘The girl had woe, right? (Muhlenbach-Endzelins 1923-30)

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Ancient Greek

ō moi anaideiēn epieimene kerdaleophoron pōs ... woe me.dat impudence.acc set.upon.voc.sg greedy.voc.sg how ‘Ah me, clothed in shamelessness, thinking of profit, how …’ (Homer, Iliad 1.148–151)

oimoi tōi molonti despotēi emōi pherein gar chrē woe-me.dat the.dat coming.dat master.dat me.dat bear.inf for must to doulion zugon the.nom slavish.nom yoke.nom

‘… ah me! For my master’s coming home, yes, my master, for I must bear the yoke of slavery.’ (Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1223–6)

ouai humin hoi empeplēsmenoi nun hoti peinasete woe you.dat rel.nom.pl made.full now that hunger ‘Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger’ (Luke 6:25 Textus Receptus)

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Avestan

aēibiiō aŋhәāus auuōi aŋhat apamam (Yasna 45.3) Gatha Avestan them.dat life.gen woe is.3sg.sbj last ‘Woe shall be to them/they shall have woe at the end of (their) life’

āuuōiia mē bāuuōiia Young Avestan woe me.dat woe ‘Woe to me, woe!’ (Yašt 3.14)

kaθa tē darәgәm āuuōiia aŋhat Young Avestan how you.dat long.acc.sg woe is.3sg.sbj ‘How is it that woe will be to you/you shall have woe for long’

(Haδoxt Nask 2.34)

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A Family of Constructions

… where the predicate is compositional, with a noun, adjective, adverb or a prepositional phrase, together with a dative subject:

og varð honum illt við Old Norse-Icelandic and became him.dat badly with ‘and he was startled’ (Færeyinga saga 5)

nec tamen illis bene erit Latin not although they.dat well is.3sg.fut ‘although things will not be well with them’ (Sen. Vit. Beat. 11, 4)

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Word Order

•  Seems to be a systematic variation between –  DAT-(is)-woe –  woe-(is)-DAT

•  We believe that DAT-(is)-woe is the default neutral word order, while woe-(is)-DAT is a focused construction

•  ‘woe’ is the quintessential candidate for being focused in situations of adversity –  Predicate focus

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Fronted Predicate Focus – New Information

SOSTRATA: Obsecro, mi Pamphile, non tute incommodam rem, ut quaeque est, in animum induces pati? Si cetera ita sunt ut vis itaque uti esse ego illa[m] existumo, mi gnate, da veniam hanc mihi redduc illam.

‘Pray, my Pamphilus, can you not, seeing how each woman is, prevail upon yourself to put up with one matter of inconvenience? If everything else is according to your wish, and such as I take it to be, my son, do grant me this indulgence, and take her back.’

PAMPHILUS: Vae misero mihi! woe wretched.dat me.dat ‘Woe to miserable me!

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Paired Foci – New Information

Swylc wæs þeaw hyra, hæþenra hyht; helle gemundon in modsefan, metod hie ne cuþon, dæda demend, ne wiston hie drihten god, ne hie huru heofena helm herian ne cuþon, wuldres waldend. Wa bið þæm þe sceal þurh sliðne nið sawle bescufan in fyres fæþm, frofre ne wenan, wihte gewendan; wel bið þæm þe mot æfter deaðdæge drihten secean ond to fæder fæþmum freoðo wilnian.

‘Such was their custom, heathens’ hope, on hell they pondered in the depths of their hearts, they knew not God, the judge of deeds, they were not aware of the Lord God, nor indeed did they know how to praise Heaven’s Protector, Ruler of Glory. Woe be to him that through severe affliction thrust his soul into the fire’s embrace, hope not for relief, or to change at all; Well be to him that after his death may seek the lord and long for peace in the father’s arms’ (Beowulf 178–1888)

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Correspondence Set – Identity

Germanic DAT-is-woe

Latin DAT-is-woe

Slavic DAT-is-woe

Baltic DAT-is-woe

Avestan DAT-is-woe

Ancient Greek (DAT-is-woe)

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Reconstruction of the DAT-is-woe argument structure construction

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Reconstruction of the Subject–Predicate construction

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Reconstruction of the Fronted Predicate Focus Construction

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Summary

•  The DAT-(is)-woe construction instantiates an argument structure in Proto-Indo-European, with a non-canonically case-marked subject-like argument

•  Syntactic structures may be reconstructed for Proto-Indo-European, based on cognate lexical items and cognate argument structure constructions, i.e. inherited argument structure constructions consisting of the same syntactic form and the same meaning or function

•  Construction Grammar provides the ideal theoretical framework for this enterprise

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Documents

The Syntax of ‘Woe’in Indo-European