Abstract:
In the poem “The Knight in Panther’s Skin”, Shota Rustaveli created
numerous occasional forms, revealing the expressive capacity of
the Georgian language. Out of such occasional forms in the poem,
special mention should be made of occasional verb-forms with
nominal stems and circumfix u-‒-o: učumoda, udidoda, umxneoda.
Scholarly literature focuses on the qualification of “učumoda”,
interpreting this word differently and offering diverse principles of
segmentation; namely:
1. Bipersonal intransitive verb, where u- is the marker of the
objective version, and -od the suffix denoting a continuous tense (an
imperfect screeve). 2. The initial form is učumo; the entire verb is
monopersonal, past continuous tense (imperfect screeve) form, and -
d- is the suffix denoting the continuous tense (the imperfect screeve);
učumoda type of formation is also represented in the poem by other
forms like udidoda, umxneoda: the nominal stems u d i d o and u m x n
e o are added by circumfix u- ‒ -o yielding the continuous tense (the
imperfect screeve) forms of the verbs. učumoda could be Compound
predicate too: where učumod- is the nominal element, whereas -a is
the short form of the link verb „is“: -a ←aris “is” (cf: udidod-a, umxneod-
a).
The authors of the given paper share the opinion that the verbforms
under analysis are derived from nominal stems with the
circumfix u- ‒ -o. However, the function of the suffix -d is viewed
differently: this suffix is considered as an element which forms
verbs from nominal stems. Verbs formed from nominal parts of
speech with the suffix -d are quite frequent in the poem; there are
about 80 nominal stems of this kind, out of which the most frequent
are adjectives. The verbs formed from nominal stems by means of
the suffix -d are quite informative, therefore, the poet uses them for
the purpose of adding expression to the content. Analysis of verses
containing the above-mentioned verb forms has proved that derivation
by means of suffix -d is a component of artistic parallelism as
well as a rhyming unit. It should be noted that the verbal lexeme with
suffix -d is given in the negative form. Negation is achieved by: a
nominal stem denoting absenceora nominal stem denoting absence and a negative particle “not”. A verb expressed in such way comes the
second in the line, after its preceding positive form. The relation
between the two is that of
1. C o n t r a s t:
adidebda ‒ učumoda / “glorified” ‒ “*učumoobda” / “without
noise”:
(the stem čum- is given in its old meaning, denoting “noise”).
“ze amovǯe, mepisagan ḳaci dia movidoda,
axarebdes: “ amoǯdao”, dedopali gamorboda;
mepe morbis tav-šišveli, ar icoda, ras ikmoda,
igi γmertsa adidebda, sxva velai učumoda”.
(Rustaveli, 2002, p. 106, # 361).
“I set up . . . Many men were come from the king, they carried back
the good news: ‘He sits up!’ The queen ran in, the king came running
bareheaded, he knew not what he did, he glorified God (while) all
others were silent” (Wardrop, 1966, p. 90, # 343)1
Rhyming units: movidoda “would come” / gamorboda “ran in”
/ras ikmoda “what was he doing” / učumoda “without noise, silently”.
2. S y n o n y m y:
a) vizaxdi ‒ ar udidoda / “I shouted”‒“[xma] ismoda ar(a)
*udidod”= “[voice]was heard far and wide”.
“navita gave, zγvisagan šṭo rame gamovidoda.
ar amovhḳrepdi gamopta, vtkvi, čemta rad davhrido, da-?
dameӡabunnes, simravle me mati ar gamvidoda,
vnadirobdi da vizaxdi, xma čemi ar udidod-a”.
(Rustaveli, 2002, p. 178, # 609).
“I went by ship; from the sea came forth a creek. I gathered not
those divided from me; I said to myself: “Why should I take precautions
against mine own folk?” They seemed timid to me; their multitude
appeared not. I hunted and hallooed; I withheld not my voice”
(Wardrop, 1966, p. 141, # 586).
Rhyming units: gamovidoda “would come out” / rad davhrido,
da- “whay avoid it” da- [preverb from the same verb, used to reinforce meaning] / ar gamvidoda “I did not warry” / ar udidoda “not small,
big”.
b) gahmagreboda ‒ ar umxneoda / “stood firm” ‒“did not lose
courage”.
„vardi neboda, γvreboda, alvisa šṭo irxeoda,
broli da lali gatlili lažvardad gardikceoda;
gahmagreboda siḳvdilsa, amistvis ar umxneod-a,
iṭvis, tu: „bneli ras miḳvirs, ratgan davagde mzeo, da-!“
(Rustaveli, 2002, p. 281, # 963).
“The rose is faded, it drips, the branch of the aloe-tree quivers,
the cut crystal and ruby are changed into lapis-lazuli. He strengthened
himself against death; against him it vaunted not itself. He said: “Why
should I wonder at darkness since thou, O sun, hast abandoned
me!”(Wardrop, 1966, p.214, # 934).
Rhyming units: irxeoda “was quivering” / gardikceoda “was becoming”
/ ar umxneoda “not weak, vigorous” / mzeo,da- “O sun, da-
[preverb from the previous verb davagde “I left her”, used to reinforce
thought].
As for the tense (the screeve), verbs with nominal stems, added
by suffix -d usually express the Simple Past Tense (the Aorist), but the
lexemes under analysis pertain to the Past Continuous / Imperfect.
Besides the acoustic impression created by the verballyformed suffix -
od (o- stem noun + suffix -d), there are two major nuances: 1.These
forms do not have a verbal prefix (a preverb); 2. The forms themselves
have a continuous meaning; hence, they are easily combined with the
preceding verbal lexemes denoting the Past Continuous Tense
(Imperfect Screeve).