Sulla funzione del prefisso ga- nella morfologia verbale del gotico

Abstract

In this work I intend to concentrate on one of the problems concerning the Gothic system of tenses, aspect and actionality, namely on the function of the verbal prefix ga- and its relationship to the actional value of the verbs. I deal with this problem from a synchronic as well as a diachronic point of view. Jakob Grimm (Kleinere Schriften. Recensionen und vermischte Aufsätze, IV, Berlin 1869, pp. 186, 196, 228) suggested that the use of verbal prefixes could have a ‘perfectivising’ function not only in the Slavonic languages but also in Gothic. Several scholars were fascinated by this idea, and various studies dealing with the function of prefixed and unprefixed Gothic verbs were published during the following years. The opposition unprefixed vs prefixed verbs was interpreted as a difference in aspect, analogous to the Russian one, i.e. between perfective and imperfective verbs. The present work purports to demonstrate that the prefix ga- modifies the meaning of the verb in terms of actionality, deriving a type of action different from that denoted by the original verb.