INFINITIVE CONSTRUCTIONS IN THE LANGUAGE OF ONE GELATIAN MANUSCRIPT (K14)

Abstract

In Old Georgian, the form is actively used, which is produced from the adverbial case form of Masdar (initial form). Such a form is called infinitive. It differs from Masdari and shows the properties of a verb. The form of the infinitive differs from the masdarian from the morphological and syntactic point of view, in particular, it is not declension and creates verb constructions in the sentence. Infinitive constructions characterize only the old Georgian language. It should be noted that this is one of the events that distinguish the grammatical system of old Georgian from modern Georgian.

The article discusses the constructions created by the corresponding infinitive forms of the Indo-European languages (as well as Semitic ones, such as Classical Syriac) and their functions in the sentence.

The reasoning is based on the linguistic data of one Gelatian manuscript (XII century) preserved in the Kutaisi State Enthongharphic Museum. The said manuscript contains Georgian translations of the works of St. Maxim the Confessor. It contains 24 works of the Holy Father: two exegetical works, one – „Arguing with Piros", 10 dogmatic-polemical treatises, and 11 epistles. The linguistic events discussed in the article are taken from the text of the Gelatian translation of the Holy Father's work "Quaestiones ad Thalassioum".

Keywords: Gelatian manuscript (K14), Infinitive, Masdar (initial form) syntactic construction.