I nomi greci in -αρ e -ωρ: ricerche sull'eteroclisi nominale in -r/n- in greco

This dissertation investigates the Greek -αρ and -ωρ nouns, which can be taken into account as certain or possible heteroclitic -r/n- stems. While the topic of r/n-heteroclisis has always been a well known field of research within comparative Indo-European linguistics, a thorough study of the subject in the various Indo-European languages is still lacking. The analysis focuses mainly on morphological (such as root type, ablaut, suffix form) and semantic aspects, aiming at pointing out the factors that characterize the Greek -αρ and -ωρ nouns as a class. In the first chapter, an introduction to the topic from an Indo-European perspective is provided: after a short history of the research based on the survey of some of the most important global contributions on the subject (from the end of 19th century to the present), the main topics concerning Indo-European r/n-heteroclisis are briefly presented and discussed. In the second chapter a one-by-one analysis of the Greek forms ending in -αρ and -ωρ is made, taking into account both nouns attested as heteroclitic within Greek itself and nouns for whom an original heteroclitic inflection can be reconstructed on the basis of various factors (among them the presence of forms attesting an n-stem beside the r-stem). The third chapter sketches out a portrait of the Greek -αρ and -ωρ nouns considered as a class, basing on morphological and semantic criteria. As a result, it is shown that in the evolution from Proto-Indo-European to Greek a substantial change took place in the type of root on which r/n-heteroclitic nouns were formed: while PIE heteroclitic nouns were mostly built on nominal roots, there is a clear morphological pattern in Greek that derives heteroclitic nouns from verbal roots. Furthermore, younger heteroclitic nouns in Greek consistently show not the simple heteroclitic suffix -r/n- but the complex suffix -wr/n-. The lack of homogeneity within the class of -αρ and -ωρ nouns is thus (at least in part) explained by the simultaneous presence of older and younger heteroclitic formations, which imply different morphosemantic features. The link between Greek forms in -ωρ and Indo-European ‘collectives’ is also investigated and it is argued that most of the Greek nouns ending in -ωρ might be traced back to the PIE class of collective nouns according to three different semantic features, being either mass-nouns or abstract nouns or nouns whose meaning entails a collective view of their referent.