PIE case system
As in many daughter languages, PIE case was a non-lexically governed concord class affecting nominals. Each case more or less represented a different function, though with much overlap especially in later stages and daughters.1
Cases
Vocative
The vocative case represented direct address.
Nominative
The nominative case represented the subject of a finite verb or the compliment of a copulative.
Accusative
The accusative case represented the direct object.
Dative
The dative case represented an indirect object, purpose, as well as benefactive cases and sometimes possession.
Genitive
The genitive case formed ==compliments to noun phrases with implications of possession, measure, and partitive==.
Instrumental
The instrumental case represented an instrument or accompaniment.
Ablative
The ablative case represented motion away from or separation.
Locative
The locative case represented the location or time at, or within which.
Allative
Allative case represented motion towards something. While it was only attested in Old Hittite, some adverbs in Greek appear to be fossilised allatives.
- PIE allative /ǵʰmáh₂/ (by Lindeman’s option surfacing ǵṃáh₂ ~ ǵmáh₂) “to the ground” (allative)
- Old Hittite taknāh (allative)
- Homeric Greek χᾰμαί (adverb)
Footnotes
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From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic, p. 25 (§2.3.2) ↩