VMs: More Infixes

[Koontz John E <John.Koontz@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

It occurs to me that Latin has two sorts of infixes that I omitted to
mention.  One is the Indo-European n-infix present stem, as in Latin
ta<n>g-o 'I touch' (n-infix) vs. te-tig-i 'I touched' (reduplicated) vs.
tac-tu-s 'touched' (bare stem). Here there actually is an infix, though I
think the usual historical explanation is along the lines that some
affected forms have two successive derivational suffixes, one supplying n,
the other the velar, while other have only the latter.

Another superficial source of infixation occurs with some kinds of stem
form alternation.  For example:  some Latin nouns have an underlying stem
in final -t and that t is lost when the nominative singular -s is added,
but kept when the nominative plural -es is added, as well as in other
situations, yielding alternations like gens : gentes, pars : partes, etc.
In Classical Latin the observable pattern is gen-s :  gen-t-es or even
gen-s : gen-te-s, with superficial infixing (between stem and inflection)
but in Pre-Latin we can reconstruct simpler patterns like gent-s :
gent-es.  Something similar underlies learned alternations like octopus :
octopodes or clematis : clematides, iris : irides borrowed into English
from Greek.

John E. Koontz
http://spot.colorado.edu/~koontz
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