χαμαί

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Ancient Greek

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Etymology

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From a case form of Proto-Indo-European *dʰéǵʰōm (earth) (whence also χθών (khthṓn, earth)), traditionally taken as a dative.[1] Ringe[2] identifies this as a fossilized allative/directive (Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰm̥m-éh₂) suffixed with the "hic-et-nunc particle" -i (Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰm̥m-éh₂-i) (also optionally attached to the locative of any noun); if so, then cognate with Old Hittite 𒁖𒈾𒀀 (taknā), which lacks the particle. Ringe adduces this correspondence as evidence for reconstructing the allative for Proto-Indo-European. Compare other cognate forms with the same semantics: Sanskrit क्ष्मया (kṣmayā́), Sanskrit ज्मया (jmayā́) (instrumental), Sanskrit क्षमा (kṣamā́) (also instrumental), and Sanskrit क्षामि (kṣā́mi), Latin humī (locative). Also compare πάλαι (pálai) and παραί (paraí).

Pronunciation

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Adverb

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χᾰμαί (khamaí)

  1. on the earth, near the ground
  2. to the earth/ground

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • Albanian: hjima
  • Byzantine Greek: χάμω (khámō)
  • Late Latin: cama (possibly)

References

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  1. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “χαμαί”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 1612-3
  2. ^ Ringe, Donald (2006) From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic (A Linguistic History of English; 1)‎[1], Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN

Further reading

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