LIETUVIŲ KALBOS MORFOLOGINĖ SANDARA IR JOS RAIDA

LIETUVOS TSR MOKSLŲ AKADEMIJA

THE DUAL OF LITHUANIAN NOUNS¹

D. GARGASAITĖ

§ 1. The dual is a relic of ancient morphology and has survived in only a few languages. In Sanskrit, both nouns and verbs had a dual category. Old Greek also had a dual, although it was already declining and being displaced by the plural². In Latin, only the words duo “two” and ambo “both” are regarded as remnants of the dual. Thus, the Romance languages that developed from Latin no longer have a dual. Gothic written monuments attest a dual in pronouns and verbs. Old Church Slavonic used the dual very consistently in all inflected parts of speech³, and all the Slavic languages once had it⁴. This is shown by texts in the old Slavic languages and by fossilized forms in modern languages that no longer have a dual meaning. At present, among the Slavic languages, Slovenian⁵ and Sorbian have preserved the dual best.

The Baltic languages, too, once had a dual. The form austo “both lips” (cf. Old Church Slavonic usta, Avestan aoštā), etc., is considered a remnant of the dual in Prussian⁶. Fossilized dual forms also occur in Latvian folklore, old written texts, and some dialects⁷. Of the Baltic languages, Lithuanian has best preserved the dual across all parts of speech, especially in the Samogitian dialect. Old Lithuanian written texts show that other Lithuanian dialects, too, used the dual much more widely until relatively recently.

¹ This article is part of the author's larger work in preparation on the Lithuanian dual.

² A. Cuny, De nombre duel en grec, Paris, 1906.

³ А. И. Беличь. К двойственному числу в старославянском, «Известия отдела русского языка и словесности», IV, кн. 4, 1899, p. 1—32.

⁴ А. Белич, О двјаини у словенским језицима, Београд, 1932; А. М. Иорданский, История двойственного числа в русском языке, Воронеж, 1960; S. Obnorskij, Dualspuren in der nominalen Declination des Rusischen, „Zeitschrift für slavische Philologie“, Bd. II, Leipzig, 1925, p. 66—67; I. Огієнко, Двійне число в українській мові, Київ, 1910; A. Dostál, Vývoj duálu v slovanských jazycích zvláště v polštině, Praha, 1954; B. de Courtenay, Einige Fälle der Wirkung der Analogie in der polnischen Declination, KZ, Bd. VI, H. 1, Berlin, 1868, p. 62—80.

⁵ L. Tesnière, Les formes du duel en slovène. Paris, 1925.

⁶ J. Endzelīns, Senprūšu valoda, Rīga, 1943, p. 60, 64, 66.

⁷ J. Endzelīns, Latviešu valodas gramatika, Rīga, 1951, p. 450—460.

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This article examines the Lithuanian noun dual, drawing on material from present-day dialects as well as data from old written texts, which help shed light on the history of dual forms.

Nominative-accusative-vocative⁸

Masculine gender

§ 2. (i)a stem. In Lithuanian, the nominative-accusative of the dual of (i)a-stem nouns has the ending -u, e.g.: du vaikų, du broliu. As the pronominal adjectives show, this ending derives from -úo; compare du mažuoju vaikų, du tikruoju broliu. Here and there, the Latvian masculine dual nominative-accusative forms that occur have had the same ending, e.g.: divi sieku miltu, divi mužų⁹. In the Slavic languages, the dual nominative-accusative of this stem has the ending -a, e.g.: OCS konja, vlъka, Russian два брата, Old Polish dwa króla, dwa krzyża, Ukrainian три брата, Slovene midva sva brata. The ending here is common in origin to Baltic and Slavic. Greek also has the same ending; compare λύκω.

i stem. The dual nominative-accusative of masculine i-stem nouns has the ending -u, e.g.: Pasikvietė du vagiu. VIkv. Įsidėjau du nauju dančių. Jrb. It is thought that this ending arose on the model of the dual nominative-accusative of ia-stem nouns.

The dual nominative-accusative of (i)u-stem nouns also has the ending -u, e.g.: du sūnu, du alų, du turgų, du medų, du vaisių. Slavic languages have -у(-ы) here, e.g.: OCS syny. Thus, the dual nominative-accusative ending of (i)u-stem nouns is common to Baltic and Slavic. This ending is also identical to the corresponding ending in Old Indic; compare sūnū.

Masculine consonant-stem nouns form the dual nominative-accusative on the model of ia-stem nouns, e.g.: du akmeniu, du mėnesiu, du piemen iu, du ruden iu, du stūmeniu, du šuniu, du želmeniu, compare du peiliu. In some dialects, consonant-stem nouns have shifted to the a stem, e.g.: du akmenu. An unusual form, du šūni, was recorded in the Pagramantis dialect.

The ending of the dual nominative-accusative of consonant-stem nouns in the ancient Baltic languages is unknown. It is possible that this form had the ending -e. Daukša’s form du žmune^{DP 313₁₉ (du žmune DP 314₁₆)} is regarded as a dual nominative-accusative and is linked to the Greek form χῶνε¹⁰.

⁸ In Lithuanian dialects today, only two noun cases of the dual have been preserved: the nominative-accusative-vocative and the dative-instrumental. Below, we will call the first the nominative-accusative, since it is very rarely used as a vocative.

⁹ Latvian also has another masculine ending, namely -i, e.g.: divi darbi darīt, which J. Endzelīns regards as a neuter ending derived from the ancient Baltic ending -ei or -ai; compare OCS izě, Sanskrit yugé. See J. Endzelīns, Latviešu valodas gramatika, p. 451.

¹⁰ J. Endzelīnas, Baltų kalbų garsai ir formos, Vilnius, 1955, p. 130; J. Otrębski, Gramatyka języka litewskiego, III, Warszawa, 1956, p. 84.

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The dual nominative-accusative of the noun žmogus ‘person’ must be discussed separately. It is formed in two ways:

a) from the singular stem, e.g.: du žmogų Sd, Ms, Plik, Ktč, Prk, Šlu, End, Zt, ValP 16, Vaižg RR I 359, du žmogų BsV 22 (lšr); forms of this formation are also found in old writings: Du βmogu VlnE 123₅, Du βmogu BP II 355₁₀, Du βmogu KN 183₇;

b) from the plural stem, e.g.: žmoniu StngŽ 34, du žmoniu Rpj 23, du βmoniu BP I 192₁₁, Schitūdu Sžmoniu BP II 356₁₄. The form derived from the plural stem in the dialect of the Telšiai area most likely has the feminine dual nominative-accusative ending, e.g.: dọ žmōnę ~ du žmōni (?), cf. dvi karvi.

Feminine gender

§ 3. (i)o-stem. The nominative-accusative of Lithuanian (i)o-stem nouns has the ending -i, derived from -ie, e.g.: dvi dieni, abidvi ranki, dvi pirkl, plg. dvi kreivieji puši Slnt. Latvian also has -i here, e.g.: abi kaġi, divi varpi. Old Church Slavonic has the ending -i only after j, e.g.: duši, and -e after a hard consonant, cf. ženę, vladyčę. Thus, in this respect, there are no parallels between the Baltic and Slavic languages. Both Old Church Slavonic and Old Indic have here a form derived from Indo-European *-ai, cf. Sanskrit ášve.

In those Lithuanian dialects where the dual is rarely used, other endings also occur. It is difficult to say what the origin is of forms such as dvi dienā Prg, dvi parā Lkv, dvi nedēlia Krš. They coincide with the singular nominative and instrumental, cf. rankā, su rankā, dienā, su dienā. Yet it is unlikely that the aforementioned dual forms are connected with the singular instrumental. It is possible that, to denote two things, the singular nominative of nouns is used here with the numeral du. Thus nouns used with the numeral du sometimes seem to be able to take not only dual or plural forms (dvi dieni, dvi dienos, dvi dienās), but also singular forms. All the more so because the endings here carry no semantic load—the grammatical number is indicated by the lexical meaning of the numeral.

In the eastern and central Aukštaitian dialects, alongside forms with final -i, and, where it has been lost, a soft consonant at the end of the word (e.g.: dvi dieni Vpr, Glv; dvi grivini Lg; dvi diēn — dvi diēni Kl, Sdb, Všk, Jnšk, Lnkv, Žml, Ps; dvi vagì Pbs; dvi bóbi BM I 150), forms with a hard consonant are also widely used, e.g.: nọsipõrkę dvę vȯšt Šd; dvę diēn bū.va gārdin Rz; tȯrēję dvę desencȯn žē'mes; ãtnesȯ dvę nàšt mēdžu Pš; tas Jokū'bs árkli. sā'va už dvi kvõrt atvadā'va RdN; dvi diēn panēšojis i nutrū'ka bā'tē Lnkv. The hard consonant at the end of the word indicates that before the ending vowel was lost, the vowel here was not a front vowel. In some dialects, a back vowel is heard in this position, e.g.: teturū tik dvi rūnkō Krš; mēs ti bū.vom dvi paru Er; mažū.tē gričē.tē givē'na, dvi žmōnu turēja Rm; pamačō dvi vārnu; pabū.va gāl dvi vālandu Št; iš tos krū.vos padī.rb dvę gōbu Rz; ū.žārȯ dvę grōžu Rz; dvi lōvy nupirko Trs. According to P. Arumaa, analogous feminine dual nominative-accusative endings have been replaced by the corresponding masculine endings¹¹.

¹¹ P. Arumaa, Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der litauischen Personalpronomina, Tartu, 1933, p. 71.

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On the other hand, the origin of these endings may be different. In the dialects mentioned, final vowels are reduced in many different ways. These still audible feminine dual accusative endings -u, -v, -bi may be dialectal variants of word-final -a; cf. su rūka Krs, su jaunu mergu Št, su galvu Rm, (su) lazdu Er, (su) lazdbi || (su) lazdū Trs. In that case, these forms would be associated with the aforementioned forms of the Samogitian dialects dvi diena Pgr, dvi para Lkv, dvi nedėlia Krš.

Feminine dual nominative-accusative forms, as can be seen, are being actively driven out of use. It is interesting to note that in some dialects, under the influence of plural forms, the plural ending -s is added directly to the dual ending, e.g.: Dvi dienis ištratėjo supykusi Klk.

The dual nominative-accusative of common-gender nouns may have either a masculine or a feminine ending, e.g.: šuodu valkatu || šiuodu valkati NèrR III 216.

The dual nominative-accusative of feminine nouns in the ė-stem has the same ending -i as nouns in the (i)o-stem, e.g.: dvi karvi, dvi puši, dvi sapai¹²

Examples of the influence of plural forms include the Tryškiai dialect form dvi karvis; cf. dvi karvi and dvi karves.

The dual accusative of nouns with the suffix -elė (the nominative is no longer used here) in Eastern Aukštaitian dialects, where short endings are lost, has a hard word-final consonant l, e.g.: apgūrku dvė vagel posodžno Žml; dvė labė ger patel papjovė Lnk; tū.r dvì kàrv, dvi avèl RdN. In some dialects a back vowel is still clearly audible, e.g.: nuvein unt mi.ško – parsi.neso dvi geldėbli Ul; po dvi stalinėbli vi.na ga.lim išgėrėt Pmp; aš turu dvi karvi, dvi kaulbl Tj. Here, as in analogous examples of the o-stem, the word-final vowel was not the usual dual -i, but some other vowel. The hardness of the consonant in the dual accusative of nouns with the suffix -elė suggests that a masculine ending -u may have intruded here, reduced in the dialects in a way similar to word-final -a.

i-stem. The dual nominative-accusative of i-stem nouns in the Baltic languages has the ending -i, e.g.: abi aki, dvi anti, dvi avi, dvi dali, dvi karti, dvi nakti, dvi tūkstanti; cf. Latvian ausi, Old Prussian nozy ‘nose’. Identical to the Baltic forms are Old Church Slavonic gosti and Sanskrit pāti.

There are also innovations in the dialects, e.g.: dabař jis dvi pačū tū.ri Vad; Vo tas dailida turieja dvi pače, seną ir jauną BsP II 19 (Varn).

The dual nominative-accusative of feminine consonant-stem nouns, on the model of i-stem nouns, ends in -i, e.g.: dvi dukteri, dvi seseri; cf. the form of the same case in Old Church Slavonic, dъšteri, which, as in Lithuanian, is formed according to the i-stem.

§ 4. In old written texts, the dual nominative-accusative of nouns is used quite extensively and consistently. As in the modern language, the masculine dual nominative-accusative has the ending -u, e.g.: (a-stem) two

¹² The nominative-accusative of masculine ė-stem nouns also has the ending -i, e.g.: du dėdi Krč, Lnk.

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rhитmu, du kartu Mž188₂–₃, du kartu VlnE 41₁₆, abu laivu pilnu VlnE 112₁₂, kitu du priligìnimu BP I 212₁, kitu du laitu BP I 387₃, Du dayktu PK 192₁, du daiktu DP 100₃₇, du kartú DP 150₁₆, du kártu KN 249₂₈; (ia-stem) du kitu piktadeiu VlnE 214₁₇, kitu du io makintiniu BP I 408₁₁, du mókitiniu DP 1₈, du brołu KN 265₁₂; (u-stem) du ſſunu VlnE 200₆, abu Sunu BP I 365₁₆, du ſunu DP 148₃₄, du Sunu KN 250₁₅.

The nominative-accusative dual of feminine nouns ends in -i, e.g.: (o-stem) dwi Maldi BP I 430₁, dwi upi DP 55₄₅, dwi wieti KN 144₉; (io-stem) dwi koghi VlnE 188₁₂, BP II 430₁, tie dwi nedeli DP 131₁₃, abi eldii KN 159₁; (ė-stem) dwi įpati tikribi DP 88₁; (i-stem) dwi aki VlnE 188₁₆, Dwi dali BP II 44₆, dwi žuvi DP 125₂₈, dwi dali KN 7₁.

Fossilized forms

§ 5. The nominative-accusative dual of masculine nouns used with the numerals du ‘two’ and abu ‘both’ can be shortened, lose the final -u, and become an adverb. An example of this type of fossilized dual form is the adverb dįkart in nearly all Lithuanian dialects, Všvl, Vrn, dukart Dbč, Klov, Ktč, Ml, Lš, Šln, Zt, cf. kartas, du kartu; dusyk Šn, Gs, Rdd, abùsyk Gs, cf. sykis, du sykį¹³. Fewer fossilized feminine dual forms occur, e.g.: Katrap reik pasielgti? — Abi vali (What should one do? — Both are suitable) LKŽ I 13 (Jb). The numeral dvidešimt ‘twenty’ should also be mentioned here; it probably arose from a dual form, cf. dvi dešimti¹⁴.

From the old writings, one may cite Bretkūnas’s adverbialized phrase ſawi dieni, which is thought originally to have meant “day and night.” Used adverbially, the phrase acquired a new meaning, namely “always,” e.g.: Ghiſai ſawi dieni nepamete griekus; Sawi dieni ghis tamſmoj walge ir didzome rūpėtije ir liggoje ir smutke¹⁵.

§ 6. The nominative-accusative dual of Lithuanian nouns has been preserved to varying degrees in the dialects.

The nominative dual of masculine nouns is used as a case in a relatively small dialect area, namely west of Mažeikiai, Telšiai, Rietavas, Švėkšna, and Pagėgiai¹⁶. However, remnants of it are still found across almost the entire area of Lithuanian dialects. The nominative occurs in fossilized expressions even in such

¹³ Incidentally, the adverb dukart may also have arisen through the fossilization of a plural form, cf. triskart < ‘three times’.

¹⁴ The adverbs abigali, dvigubi recall a fossilized feminine nominative-accusative dual, e.g.: Šitas kuolas reikia nutašyt abigali ‘This post needs to be trimmed at both ends.’ LKŽ I 8 (Mrk); Mokesniaus atėmė dvigubai ‘They charged twice as much,’ because I had no receipt. LKŽ II 688 (Mrk).

¹⁵ A. Bezzenberger, Beiträge zur Geschichte der litauischen Sprache auf Grund litauischer Texte des XVI. und des XVII. Jahrhunderts, Göttingen, 1877, p. 233 (hereafter: Beiträge).

¹⁶ The distribution boundaries of the dual forms were established on the basis of material from the Atlas of Lithuanian Dialects of the Institute of Lithuanian Language and Literature of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences.

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in dialects in which the dual as a system has already disappeared, e.g.: Two markets with two markets Jrb, Krns, Pgg, Prn, Žal, Glv, Tvr; Sweet as two honeys. Ssk, Glv; Both ends like that. Slč, Glv; A little spindle—two beers live there (an egg). Lž; Two wheels stand in the grove. Žal; Two mushrooms for a fat one. Bt.

In the dialects, the nominative of the feminine dual is being completely displaced by the plural nominative. As a case, it is used only at the western edge of the Samogitian dialects, specifically in the environs of Skuodas, Seda, Salantai, Kretinga, Klaipėda, Priekulė, and Šilutė.

The dual accusative, as a case, is likewise used only in the areas mentioned above. Elsewhere, usually only remnants of it occur. Thus, for example, it is used inconsistently west of Vegeriai, Šiauliai, Tytuvėnai, Tauragė, and Pagėgiai. Forms of the feminine dual accusative are also found in the eastern and central Aukštaitian dialects, in the area between Kriukai, Pašvitinys, Šeduva, Dotnuva, Jonava, Gelvonai, Ukmergė, Taujėnai, Traupis, Raguvėlė, Miežiškiai, Karsakiškis, Vabalninkas, and Biržai. Remnants of the accusative occur elsewhere in Lithuania too; for example, we have recorded feminine dual forms from Rudnia, Rudamina, Veisiejai, Liškiava, etc. Dual forms survive longer in fixed expressions, e.g.: Dvi bobi — vienas dantys. Lš; Dvi bobi — viena koja. Vs, Lp; Gyvena kaip dvi kati vienam maiše. KrvP III 21 (Mrc); Glandus veršis dvi karvi žinda. KrvP III 47 (Mrc).

§ 7. The position of the numeral du in a construction with the dual nominative-accusative is not strictly fixed. Most often this numeral stands before the noun, but sometimes the noun’s dual form comes first, followed by the numeral, e.g.: Bsu du BsV 97 (Rg), broliudu BsV 97 (Plk), žvejudu BsV 351 (Rg), velnudu BsV 344 (Rsn), Vyru du J (LKŽ II 541), sunyčudu BsV 90 (Lksr), Mergidvi BsV 161 (Vlkš), žvākidvi BsV 118 (Tlž), mergidvi, dukridvi BsV 105 (Rg), panelidvi BsV 177 (Lbg). Examples of this kind also occur in Bretkūnas’s writings, e.g.: Jakubu du BP I 350₃.

§ 8. In the environs of Linkuva, Vaškai, Klovainiai, Krinčinas, Vabalninkas, Papilys, and Biržai, the dual accusative of nouns occurs with the numerals trys and (very rarely) keturi, e.g.: aš ti tris mėt givėno; mėslu vėžunt gal uždirpt du tris darbā den; tris sā vaii gutėjo. RdN; rādo trās kaušeņi; sōrgo trās dien; trās gēbēl mālku ṣokurēna; tās trās vaik tū.r.; nopōfko trās podēl; dōjo trās sāvj apī.nu. Lknv; ṣōnde gāvo trās laiskēl un kārta; trās rōbi dā.ve. Všk.

With the numeral keturi, the nominative-accusative of the noun dual occurs very rarely, e.g.: rigō tarnāvo par kētors pōn.

An analogous phenomenon is found in Latvian and Russian. In Russian, dual nominative-accusative forms are used with the numerals два, три, четыре¹⁷. Latvian uses the noun dual with numerals “2”–“9” to denote measure, weight, and time, e.g.: ar četri zirgi, veseli tris gadi, etc.¹⁸ Both Russian and Latvian have only a formal dual here. Lithuanian noun dual forms used with the numerals trys, keturi likewise have only a formal dual. This is a new case of the use of dual forms.

¹⁷ A. M. Iordansky, History of the Dual Number in the Russian Language, p. 104 ff.

¹⁸ J. Endzelīns, Latviešu valodas gramatika, p. 451.

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§ 9. The nominative-accusative of the natural dual¹⁹ is not used in Lithuanian. Even the nominative-accusative forms of the dual found in old writings occur with the numerals du, abu and dual pronouns.²⁰

Without the numeral du, the nominative-accusative of the dual was used when speaking of two already known objects²¹. At present, we no longer have examples of this type of dual recorded from dialects. That such a dual was still in living use quite recently is shown by material from dialectological and folklore collections, as well as by the writings of nineteenth-century Samogitian authors, e.g.: He looks, and two aitvaru come and eat porridge from little bowls. The aitvaru come to the bowls, sniff them and say... BsP II 151 (Ps); ...two large bears were shut in the barn, and [they] lay down in the house... The bears were tied up. ValP 10; Staponas hired two lads, who, through their wickedness, became terribly tiresome to him and Kotryna. ValP 69... When Christmas came, [they] got rid of the naughty lads. ValP 71; While these two had not yet fallen asleep, two owls, like hens, flew in through the large opening in the ceiling... In the morning, several people climbed onto the church, found the owls sitting under the roof, and killed them. ValV 67; Augin tėvelis Du sunytėliu Du sunytėliu Ant paminklėlio... Kelk, kelk sūneliu, Mano jaunuoju!...; Augin močiute dvi dukrytėli... Kelk, kelk dukryti Mano jaunieji!.. Dukryti mano, Jaunieji mano, Kokia negar bė Taip vėlai kėlus. JD II 802 (Vl); on every branch, beautiful birds. SchG 256.

Dative-instrumental

§ 10. The Baltic and Slavic languages differ from the other Indo-European languages in that their dual dative-instrumental is formed with the formant -m-, whereas in other languages, for example Sanskrit and Avestan, it is formed with the formant -bh-.

The ending -ma²² is regarded as the old dual dative-instrumental ending; it is still used, though very rarely, in some dialects, e.g. Many little gifts, for the godmothers, perhaps “for the godmothers,” by the hundred. AruP 78; It was hard for people to live; Here one needs bright eyes; I cannot put [them] together with my eyes. I can see little with my eyes; The cow stands by the doors; The men thresh at night. Nč. This noun form is also found in Bretkūnas’s writings, e.g.: po akima BP I 116¹⁰.

It is interesting to note that the old dual dative-instrumental form of the personal pronouns aš, tu has lost its original meaning and denotes the dual genitive, e.g.

¹⁹ In linguistic literature, the natural dual is generally called the dual denoting a unified whole composed of two naturally associated objects. This includes such pairs of objects as parts of the human body (eyes, ears, lips, arms, legs) and various other paired objects, e.g. horns, sleeves, shoes, riverbanks, and so on. See K. Brugmann, Grundriß der vergleichenden Grammatik der indogermanischen Sprachen, II, 2, 2. Straßburg, 1911, pp. 455—456. A. Belić calls the dual used without the numeral du to denote two paired objects the free dual. See A. Белич, О двойни у словенским језицима, pp. 1—6 et seq. The natural dual is considered primary. The dual used with the numeral du is a later, secondary phenomenon.

²⁰ Russian has natural-dual forms that have been preserved to the present day, e.g.: очи, уши, плечи, рога, бока, рукава, берега. A. M. Иорданский, История двойственного числа в русском языке, pp. 42—75.

²¹ This type of dual is called anaphoric dual. See K. Brugmann, Grundriß, II, 2, 2, pp. 457—458.

²² A. Becenberger regards this ending as the old dual dative-instrumental-ablative ending. A. Bezzenberger, Beiträge, p. 149.

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They rushed over to mùma ‘the two of us’. Sly. Whoever of us two gets angry first, that one must give three straps cut from his back. BsP I 41 (Rg); ...we found ourselves about 20 paces away from muma’s bed, having moved farther off... BsV 242 (Rg),... “you have eyes and so do I; can you see that one is standing between us two?”... “on the night we ran away, we heard another person climbing up to the loft on the stairs...” BsV 92 (Rg);...; BsV 329 (Rg); Our rings, our gold ones, have long since been exchanged. Let’s go home, Pasiburdamačiu; whoever of us two has drunk more. KlpD 283; JD III 19 (Vl). I’ll get some from juma ‘the two of you’. Slv. That man brought those two children home, and when they had grown bigger, he said to them: “Children, since I am not your real father...” BsP I 21 (Rg).

§ 11. Linguists regard the endings -m, -mu, -mi²³ as originating in the dual; they differ from the corresponding plural forms only in that the latter have a final -s, cf. -ms, -mus, -mis. At present, these endings do not have a dual meaning in the dialects. They are the regular plural dative and instrumental endings, with which these cases are very widely used in the dialects and in the literary language (only Samogitians and some Western Aukštaitians have the corresponding plural cases with -s; cf. vaikam and vaikams, pronounced sakomi and sakoms). The ending -mi is essentially a plural instrumental ending, used in the dialects of southern Lithuania, south of the line Kalvarija — Daukšiai — Kazlų Rūda — Skriaudžiai — Karmėlava — Pravieniškės — Rumšiškės — Palomenė — Žiežmariai — Semeliškės — Trakai — Rūdiškės — Marijampolis — Dieveniškės. However, forms with -mi are also widely used to express the dative, e.g.: Pietūmi ‘for lunch’ bring some firewood. Iš.; I bought a kerchief for each of my daughters. LKK III 119 (Zt); The rain caused much damage to people. Kpč; The government gives everything to people. PnmA.

i and the dative-instrumental forms in -mi of consonant-stem nouns are widespread throughout the entire area mentioned; the corresponding forms of (i)o- and ē-stem nouns are used in the southern Dzūkian corner: Lazdijai, Seirijai, Nemunaitis, Liškiava, Ratnyčia, and also sporadically elsewhere in neighboring Western Aukštaitian dialects.

The dative-instrumental ending -mi is also occasionally found with (i)a-stem nouns in individual dialects²⁴, e.g.: Važinėju dviejėmi arkliāmi ‘I travel with two horses’. Dviemi arkliāmi ‘for the horses’ I gave oats. Kūliau akmenāmi ‘with stones’. Mes piaunam arkliāmi ‘we cut with horses’. Zt. Around our place, there aren’t any starling boxes in the trees around the house for the starlings ‘for starlings’. Kpč. Such a dative-instrumental ending occurs with (i)a-stems only in the southern Dzūkian dialect around Kapčiamiestis, Veisiejai, Leipalingis, and also in Azi erks and Zietela (BTSR).

In these localities, the dative-instrumental case, which has shifted to the (i)a-stem declension, has the ending -mi, e.g.: sūnāmi, viršāmi Kpč, Lp, Zt, vagāmi, debesāmi Kpč, Lp.

Plural dative forms in -mu of nouns of all stem classes are used only in the vicinity of Dieveniškės, e.g.: A fox ran off, caught a hen, and is carrying it to her children ‘to the children’. They give food to all the travelers ‘to all the carters’. God bless the ploughmen ‘the ploughmen’. We’ll butcher the oxen for the christening feast ‘for the christening feast’. Ramaškon(i)u

²³ J. Endzelīns, Latviešu valodas gramatika, p. 401—406; P. Arumaa, Untersuchungen, p. 43—71.

²⁴ E. Frenkel apparently did not know this fact. E. Fraenkel, Der Stand der Erforschung der im Wilnagebiete gesprochenen Litauischen, „Balticoslavica“, t. 2, Wilno, 1936, p. 36.

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In the village of Kaime (Varėna district, BTSR), only consonant-stem nouns have forms of this kind. Incidentally, these dative forms are also used here with an instrumental meaning²⁵.

The dative-instrumental forms with the endings -m, -mi, -mu have been examined more extensively by P. Arumaa. In his view, these forms formerly had a dual meaning and displaced plural forms with final -s only when they had completely lost their specific dual meaning.

Nevertheless, it is difficult to believe that the aforementioned endings are of dual origin. Since it is clear that the old dual dative-instrumental ending is -ma, cf. OCS kostьma, kamenьma, then -m, -mi, -mu could only be regarded as secondary endings. Moreover, it is highly doubtful whether rapidly disappearing dual forms could have spread so widely across Lithuanian dialects. After all, neither the plural dative-instrumental of (i)o, ė, i, (i)u and consonant stems, nor the plural dative of (i)a stems and other stems that have adopted it, has final -s over a large area of Lithuanian dialects: east and south of approximately the line Žagarė—Tytuvėnai—Ariogala—Kaunas—Vilkaviškis—K. Naumiestis. Here we may also mention Latvian dialects and the Latvian literary language, where the plural dative and instrumental likewise lack final -s. It is possible that these are plural endings, used in some dialects alongside the usual plural endings, cf. the Kapsai-Zanavykai plural dative vaikams || vaikam, while in others they have no corresponding forms with -s at all.

§ 12. A distinctive dative-instrumental, as well as other case forms, are found in Samogitian dialects, where the dual is still used as a system.

Nom.-acc. dù vaikù, dvi kárvi

Gen. dvijų vaikų, dvijų kárvių

to those two children, to those two cows

Dat. dùm vaikùm, dvīm kárvim

Instr. duñ vaikùm, dvĩn kárvim

Loc. dvijuosè maišuosè, dvijose pélkėse

Krtn, Skd, Klp, Prk, Pln.

For the genitive and locative, see § 13, 14.

F. Kurschat had already noted that the inhabitants of Priekulė, Klaipėda, and the surrounding areas farther north say su dùm arkliùm instead of su dviem arkliam,²⁶, e.g.: Kiek čia dùm žmonùm reik. Rsn; Su dùm vežimùm. Dov; Su dùm pištùm suėmė. Sg; Su dùm arkliùm vežė. Kin; Vieną dukterę užmušė su dùm vaikiùkam. Klp; Tverk abim rankim. LKŽ I 13 (Als); Veizėk su abidim akim. Krtn.

The origin of these forms is explained in K. Jaunius’s grammar. Jaunius considered them to be formed not from the stem, but from the dual nominative, by adding dual endings to it: tuõdu-m vȳru-m, tiẽdvi-m žmõni-m²⁷.

In other Samogitian dialects, the dual dative-instrumental of (i)o, ė, i, (i)u and consonant stems, and the dative of (i)a stems, is formed by adding the dual ending to the stem, e.g.: su dvìm bõbum²⁸, dum vaikám Krš.

J. Šukys, Būdingesnės Ramaškonių tarmės ypatybės, LKK, t. 4, Vilnius, 1960, p. 181.²⁵

²⁶ F. Kurschat, Grammatik der litauischen Sprache, Halle, 1876, p. 50.

²⁷ К. Явнис, Грамматика литовского языка, Петроград, 1916, p. 19.

²⁸ For the origin of this ending, see A. Jonait ytė, *Saky nos tarmės daiktavardžio kait yba*, *Lietuvių kalbotyros klausimai*, vol. 3, Vilnius, 1960, pp. 93—96.

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Genitive. Locative

§ 13. The adverb pusiau²⁹ is considered the locative of the dual of old nouns; in some dialects it is also pronounced with circumflex accent, e.g.: pusiau Rdš, Prl, NmŠ, pusiau || pusiau Dkš, cf. OCS mezdu. In Old Indian, the corresponding forms had a final -s, e.g., Sanskrit dvayoḥ, as did Lithuanian dviejau alongside dviejau.

J. Endzelīns thinks that the dual locative and genitive may formerly have been related; cf. Latvian pušu rīta; Lithuanian upėje vandens — vėžiu pusiau šonų. Having investigated the meanings of these cases, J. Endzelīns concludes that the dual genitive probably differed from the locative earlier, as, for example, in Avestan, and that only later did the two cases merge. Lithuanian bears witness to this. In fact, the Latvian dual locative form diveiš has a genitive meaning, whereas the Lithuanian form dviej aus has a locative meaning.

§ 14. In Samogitian dialects, two types of genitive are used. Plural forms occur with the numeral du ‘two’, e.g.: dvijų vaikų. A distinctive innovation is used with the numeral abudu ‘both’ and with dual pronouns tuodu, anuodu, katruodu ‘those two, those two, which two’, etc., e.g.: Tiedvims abidvims karvims ‘of those two cows, both cows’ ragai nulūžę. Pln; Numiszk iems neužspaudus numiriele abudums blakstienums ‘of both eyelashes’ žmones atejusis i budine saka: tas numirielis iszwejsies dar du to buto. ValžV II 172, Ant abudums tuodums atminimóms ‘on the memories of both of those two’ gentys ir pažystamieje wiel i kapus nabasztiką lankyti ir waiszinti. DB 153.

Earlier, forms of this kind were also used without a genitive numeral or pronoun, e.g.: Kėta karta bòwosis trys brùolė, dô iszmintingo, ô trets dôrniôs. Dôrniôs matydams atkaklybi sawa brolôms, weins iszwýka ont dôiubies arba kâpa sâwa tiewa... BM I 335 (Vvr);... abudu it ne sawie susikerdusin nu žirgums ‘from (two) horses’ in the skirmish. DGiw 167. Such usage can be explained by the fact that the genitive of the numeral du was formerly dums, dvims ‘of two’⁽³⁰⁾ in the Samogitian dialects, and is now preserved only as part of compounds, e.g.: abudums, abid(v)ims ‘of both’, tuodums, tied(v)ims ‘of those two’, and so on. While this form remained alive in spoken language, the noun’s genitive form, probably created by analogy with the numeral, was used either with the numeral’s genitive, e.g.: iš dwems giminims ‘from two families’ DGiw 151, or without it, e.g.: nu žodiums ‘from words’ DB 82, iš kukuliums ‘from dumplings’ DB 43, when referring to two things. Later, when dums, dvims came to be replaced by dvijų, the noun too adopted the plural genitive ending, adapting to the numeral.

A B B R E V I A T I O N S

DB — S. Daukantas, Buda Senoves-Lėtuvių kalnienų ir Žemaičių..., Petropilie, 1845.

DGiw — S. Daukantas, Giwatas Didujų Karwaidų, Petropilie, 1846.

Įsr — Įsrutis (now Kaliningrad Oblast).

Lbg — Labguva.

²⁹ A. Мейе, Общеславянский язык, Москва, 1951, p. 317. J. Endzelīns, Latviešu valodas gramatika, p. 452, 453 tt. J. Otrębski, Gramatyka, III, p. 85.

³⁰ Samogitian genitive forms dums, dwems are given by S. Stanevičius in his supplement to the 1829 edition of “Universitas lingvarum lithvaniae”, “Trumpas Pamokimas Kalbos Lituwyszkos Arba Žemaytyszkos...”, 1829, p. 21. For the etymology, cf. K. Явнис, *Грамматика литовского языка*, p. 19.

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Lksr — Lauksargiai, Tauragė District.

LKK — Questions of Lithuanian Linguistics, III, Vilnius, 1960.

LKŽ — Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language, I, Vilnius, 1941; II, Vilnius, 1947.

NèrR — S. Nėris, Raštai, III, Vilnius, 1957.

Ok — Okainiai.

Pilk — Pilkalnis (now in Kaliningrad Oblast).

RpJ — Jonas iš Swisloczes krominikas liezuviu iszgulditas kasztu yr storony Jozapa Rupeyka..., Wilniuje, 1823.

VaižgRR — Vaižgantas, Selected Writings, I, Vilnius, 1957.

ValP — M. Valančius, Paaugusių žmonių knygelė, Tilžė, 1902.

Všvl — Viešvilė, Jurbarkas District.

Other abbreviations are as in the Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language.

DUAL NUMBER OF THE NOUN IN THE LITHUANIAN LANGUAGE

Д. ГАРГАСАЙТЕ

Abstract

Lithuanian is one of those languages that have preserved the dual number to this day. In some dialects (Samogitian and, partly, Western Aukštaitian), all inflected parts of speech have a dual: adjectives, numerals, pronouns, and verbs. This article considers only noun forms. The study is based primarily on contemporary dialectological material collected by the Institute of the Lithuanian Language and Literature of the Academy of Sciences of the Lithuanian SSR. For historical comparison, examples are given from Old Lithuanian texts (M. Mažvydas, J. Bretkūnas, M. Daukša, and others).

Material from Old Lithuanian texts and some dialectological data provide grounds for considering -ma an ancient dative-instrumental dual ending, e.g.: akìta, nakìma.

It is assumed that -m, -mi, -mu are plural dative and instrumental endings and are not related to the dual.

In eastern Lithuanian dialects (Biržai, Linkuva, Papilys), the use of dual forms with the numerals three, four was observed during dialectological expeditions, as also occurs in Latvian, Russian, and some other languages.

As the genitive-locative dual disappeared from Lithuanian, it left only insignificant remnants, namely the adverb rišaũ. In the western area of the Samogitian dialects, new genitive forms are used. For the most part, these genitive and locative forms have been replaced by plural forms.

The dual of nouns has been best preserved in the area of the Samogitian dialects, west of the Mažeikiai—Telšiai—Rietavas—Švėkšna—Pagėgiai line. Remnants of the dual are still found in all Lithuanian dialects: the masculine accusative.

Feminine dual forms are particularly prone to disappearing.

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