Page:Nature and Origin of the Noun Genders of the Indo-European Languages.djvu/33

Rh beasts were used primitively as a general term for the animal without regard to sex distinction. Note, for example, the Indo-European word *ek$u̯$o-s = Latin equos, Greek , Sanskrit aš̍vas. It signified originally horse in general, and did not have any special meaning like stallion. Not until there appeared by the side of such substantives in -o-s, forms with the suffix -a- or with the suffix -iē-, -ī- to denote the female, did the use of the o-stems suffer any limitation. It was then that the o-stem first came to be employed to signify specifically a male being. In this way Latin equos, by contrast with equa, 'mare', acquired the special meaning 'stallion'. So Sanskrit vŕ̥kas, in contrast with vr̥kī̍, 'she-wolf', was used to mean the male wolf. In a word, the whole problem that is at present claiming our attention, depends for its settlement on one question. What was the original function of the -ā- in words like Latin anima, equa, Greek ' 'land', ', 'goddess', Sanskrit bhidā̍, 'split'? And what was the original function of the -iē-, -ī- in words like Latin acies, Greek , 'tongue', πότνια, 'mistress', Sanskrit š̍ácī, 'strength', vṛkī̍, 'she-wolf'?

According to the older theory, as we have seen, these suffixes -ā-, -iē-(-ī-) originally carried