Possible verbal origin of older adv prefixes
Several of the older adverbial-locative prefixes, those that currently cannot be used as post-positions, have plausible etymological connections to extant verb stems.
Consider first the prefix xa- (‘inceptive’, ‘upward’, ‘out’), as in:
(1)
Tolowa still has a lexical stem of that form, with the meaning ‘raise/carry raised’, as in:
(2)
The verb stem-xash ‘straighten’, may also be plausibly related to the sense ‘raise’ of-xa, with a frozen old imperfective suffix-sh, as in:
(3)
Consider next the adv prefix ch’a- ‘away from’, as in:
(4)
This prefix is transparently related to the verb stem ‘leave (to return)’, as in:
(5)
Consider next the adv prefix-me’ ‘inside’, as in:
(6)
This prefix is most likely related to the transitive verb stem-me’ ‘bathe’, ‘immerse in water’, as in:
(7)
Consider next the most common, and probably oldest, locative-adv prefix na ‘be at motion’, as in (6) and (7) above. Two related motion verbs with the stem-na — perfect stem-na’ — are still attested:
(8)
In many cases, the same-na/-na’ aspectual alternation found in verb stems is still observed in the adv prefix, as in:
(9)
(10)
This prefix is most likely related to the verb stem-da/-da’ ‘be in/at’, ‘live in/at’, ‘sit in/at’, as in:
(11)
Consider next the adv prefix ta- ‘outward’, ‘away’, as in:
(12)
This prefix is most likely related to the verb stem-ta ‘push away’, as in:
(13)
Consider next the adv prefix ya- ‘through’, as in:
(14)
This prefix is most likely related to the motion verb stem-ya/-gha ‘go’, ‘come’, ‘walk’, ‘meet’, as in:
(15)
The adv prefix waa-/ghaa- ‘away’, ‘that way’, ‘that manner’ may also be related to ‘go’/’come’/’walk’ (15). Thus consider:
(16)
The desiderative/optative/conative prefix u-, with a broad range of irrealis senses (‘want’, ‘can’, ‘try’) fits the semantic profile of a grammaticalized modal verb. This prefix is obligatory — i.e. lexicalized — with the verb ‘want’-te, occupying slot (6) as in:
(17)
However, in restricted contexts, only for the 1st person sg., the prefix by itself, again in slot (6), can be used with the sense of ‘want’:
(18)
With other verbs, however, this prefix is fully lexicalized, but in a slot that sometime precedes the ‘thematic prefix’ (slot 7), as in:
(19)
Finally, the potential separation of the lexicalized ‘conative’ slot from the more productive ‘desiderative’ in slot (6) can be illustrated with the verb ‘ask’ (19a):
(20)
