*kʷo-

Reconstruction

The interrogative stem has two forms, *kʷo- and *kʷi-.^[1] Beekes reconstructs the pronoun as *kʷe-/kʷi- and the adjective as *kʷo-,^[2] and Fortson names the indefinite and interrogative *kwo- among the most easily reconstructed pronouns.^[3] Ringe holds that Proto-Germanic inherited both the pronoun *kwi- ~ *kwe- "who?, what?" and the adjective *kwo- "which?".^[4]

Morphology

*kʷo- was inflected like the demonstrative *so;^[2] Latin quī from *kʷo-i shows a nominative without -s.^[2] Kapović reconstructs the masculine *kʷ-o-s, the neuter *kʷ-o-d and the feminine *kʷ-e-h₂.^[1] The genitive was *kʷeso.^[5][3] The suffix -tero- forms *kʷotero- "which of two?".^[2][6]

Evidence

The pronoun is attested in all the branches cited under Reflexes, Anatolian and Tocharian among them.^[7][8][2]

Competing analyses

How *kʷi- and *kʷo- were related is unclear: perhaps *kʷi- was "who?, what?" and *kʷo- the adjective "which?", or *kʷo- was a later creation, perhaps already in PIE.^[1] Smoczyński calls *kʷos an innovation beside *kʷis.^[9] Matasović takes the Celtic full grade *kʷey- to be probably older than *kʷo-, which parallels the demonstrative *so-, *to-.^[10] Which pronoun was the original relative, *kʷo-/*kʷi- or *io-, is disputed;^[5] Lundquist and Yates hold that PIE marked relative clauses with *hₓyo-, and that Anatolian uses the innovative *kʷi-/*kʷo-.^[11]

Meanings

1. who?, which?^[1][6]
2. an indefinite pronoun^[3]

Many conjunctions come from the relative use, among them *kʷod "that".^[12]

Derivatives

• *kʷotero- "which of two?": Ancient Greek πότερος (póteros, “which of two?”), Proto-Germanic *hwaþera- (“which of two?”)^[2][6][13]
• *kʷod "that": Latin quod (“that”), Lithuanian kàd (“that”)^[12]
• the particle *ku "where?", from which many interrogative adverbs are built^[2]
• *kʷu-so-, in Albanian and Tocharian "who"^[14][8]

Reflexes

• Anatolian: Hittite kui- (“who?, what?”)^[7]
• Tocharian: Tocharian B kᵤse (“who, what”)^[8]
• Greek: Ancient Greek ποῖος (poîos, “of what kind?”), Ancient Greek πότε (póte, “when?”)^[15][16]
• Italic: Latin quī (“which?, who, that”)^[17]
• Germanic: Proto-Germanic *hwa- (“who?, what?”)^[13]
• Baltic: Lithuanian kàs (“who, what”)^[18]
• Albanian: Albanian kush (“who”)^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d Kapović, Mate, ed. (2017), The Indo-European Languages, 2nd ed., London: Routledge
2. ^ a b c d e f g Beekes, Robert S. P. (2011), Comparative Indo-European Linguistics: An Introduction, 2nd ed., revised by Michiel de Vaan, Amsterdam: Benjamins, p. 230
3. ^ a b c Fortson, Benjamin W., IV (2010), Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction, 2nd ed., Malden, MA / Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, p. §7.9
4. ^ Ringe, Don (2017), From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Beekes, Robert S. P. (2011), Comparative Indo-European Linguistics: An Introduction, 2nd ed., revised by Michiel de Vaan, Amsterdam: Benjamins, p. 231
6. ^ a b c Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. πότερος
7. ^ a b Kloekhorst, Alwin (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Hittite Inherited Lexicon, Leiden: Brill, p. 488
8. ^ a b c Adams, Douglas Q. (2013), A Dictionary of Tocharian B, 2nd ed., Amsterdam: Rodopi, p. 199
9. ^ Smoczyński, Wojciech (2018), Lithuanian Etymological Dictionary, Berlin: Peter Lang, p. 693
10. ^ Matasović, Ranko (2009), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic, Leiden: Brill, p. 184
11. ^ Klein, Jared; Joseph, Brian; Fritz, Matthias, eds. (2017–2018), Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics, 3 vols (HSK 41), Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton, p. ch. 122, Lundquist & Yates
12. ^ a b Beekes, Robert S. P. (2011), Comparative Indo-European Linguistics: An Introduction, 2nd ed., revised by Michiel de Vaan, Amsterdam: Benjamins, p. 250
13. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 261
14. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (1998), Albanian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden / Boston / Köln: Brill, p. s.v. kush
15. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. ποῖος
16. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. πότε
17. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. quī
18. ^ Hock, Wolfgang, et al. (2015), Altlitauisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (ALEW), online and Hamburg: Baar, p. s.v. kàs