SumerianGrammar

THE VERB 143
Attinger 1993, 179, showed that there are two types of compound
verbs: 1) Both the nominal and the verbal element have an originally
independent status; 2) the verbal element serves as a verbalizer;
the latter function is essentially restricted to du 11 (-g)/e/di “to
say, do” and AG “to do, make”. While (1) may be said to be a
closed class, limited by practical usage, (2) may be called an open
class. So, e.g., the type nam-na∞gar AG “to (do carpentry =) act as
a carpenter” could theoretically be extended to as many nam-x formations
as there are.
Note: In Akkadian corresponds . . . -ùta(m) epè“u(m) for which CAD E 201–225
offers over 50 examples.
Attinger 1993 listed as many as 213 examples for the verbalizer x(-
y) du 11 (-g)/e/di.
Karahashi 2000, 2–10, has reviewed former discussions of the
topic, between 1908 and 1993; add Postgate 1974, 35–40.
See, moreover, Thomsen 1984, 269–72; Attinger 1993, 178–82; Krecher 1993,
107–18.
12.15.1. Compound verbs: free formations
Karahashi 2000 treated the subject with body-part terms as nominal
elements, excluding formations with du 11 (-g)/e/di and AG (see
12.15.2). On pp. 72–108 she listed over 130 compound verbs.
The main problem with the syntactical interpretation is the function
of the nominal element: is it in the absolutive or may it also
stand in a different case Among Karahashi’s examples, there are
91 (out of 130, i.e., 70%) with a nominal element which (in our
Latin transliteration) ends in a vowel: á “arm, side”, gaba “breast,
chest”, ∞gìri “foot”, gú “neck”, gù “voice”, igi “eye, front”, ki “place”,
ní “self ”, su “body, flesh”, “u “hand”, zi “breath”, zú “tooth”. All
these may, theoretically, be in the absolutive, or in the directive (with
the [e] assimilated). So, “u ti/te(-∞g) “to receive, to take” could be
interpreted either as “to make (an object) (absolutive) come close to
the hand (directive)” or as “to make the hand (absolutive) come close
(to an object)”. See below, p. 145f., for “u ti/te(-∞g).
On the other hand, a nominal element ending in a consonant,
e.g., dùg “knee”, ∞gé“tu(-g) “ear”, há“ “thigh”, sa∞g “head”, “à(-g)
“heart, middle part”, is clearly recognizable as an absolutive if it
stands by itself. “à(-g) hu∞g “to soothe the heart” can only have [“a∞ g-
Ø] as the nominal element, to the exclusion of *[“age] or *[“aga].