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Acta Linguistica Petropolitana. 2020. Vol. 16.1. P. 677-720 DOI 10.30842/alp2306573716121
Verbs of falling in Tigrinya*
M. S. Bulakh
National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow; mbulakh@mail.ru
Abstract. The paper gives a survey of verbs of falling in Tigrinya (an Ethio-Semitic language spoken in Eritrea and northern Ethiopia). The employment of each verb related to the situation of falling down is illustrated with phrasal examples. The Tigrinya data is further compared with Geez, a closely related extinct language. A special subsection deals with metaphorical use of the basic verb 'to fall' in Tigrinya.
Tigrinya possesses one basic verb of falling, wadaka, which is applied to describe the downward movement of a solid object through the air or a loss of vertical position of a vertically oriented object. Falling of a solid, heavy object, either through the air or, less typically, along an oblique surface, can also be referred to by a special verb sadafa. In all situations deviating from this default situation of falling in Tigrinya, special verbs are employed. Thus, the verbs tagalbata 'to be overturned, to topple' or tagamtala 'to be turned over' are used to describe the situation of toppling, overturning which does not involve physical falling from a higher level to a lower one. Detachment of an object which had been firmly fixed to another object, is usually denoted by the verb molaka 'to slip off; to become detached'. Falling to pieces of buildings or other built structures is described by the special verbs farasa 'to collapse, crumble, to fall' or i'anawa 'to collapse' (but sadafa can also be used in such contexts).
Detachment of parts of body or plants due to natural reasons is denoted by the special verb ragafa 'to fall off (leaves), to break off, break loose (fruit, leaf), to shed a coat (livestock)' (although the physical falling which is caused by such a detachment can well be described by the verb wadaka 'to fall'). Furthermore, with respect to teeth, a special verb gorafa 'to lose milk teeth, to have one's tooth pulled out' is used, with the possessor of the tooth encoded as the subject, and the tooth itself, as the object.
Downward movement of liquids is denoted by a wide range of verbs, such as wahaza 'to flow', nataba 'to fall in drops, to drop (water), to drip (water)', fasasa 'to be spilled, poured (out) (water, grain, etc.), to flow (liquid, stream), to run (water), to fall (water)', sarar bala 'to ooze, exude', lahakwa 'to drip, run (water along a wall after leaking
* The work on this paper was supported by RFBR/POOH (project # 17-06-00391). I am most grateful to my language consultant Tasfaldat Hadgambas, a native speaker of Tigrinya, who provided all the examples used in this article and patiently discussed with me various semantic nuances of each verb.
through a roof), lo leak, to seep, filter through (intransitive)'. The verb warada 'to descend' is also used to describe the movement of liquids from a higher level to the lower.
Spilling of granular material is denoted by fasasa 'to be spilled, poured (out) (water, grain, etc.)'.
Rolling down is denoted by the verb ?ankoraraya/?ankorarawa 'to roll'.
Downward movement in water is described by the verb tahala 'to sink, to submerge'.
Intentional losing of vertical position is described by the verb batt bala 'to lie down', and intentional movement from a higher level to the lower is described by warada 'to descend'.
The metaphors of falling include the employment of the verb wadaka to describe an abrupt, unexpected (and often unpleasant) change. This involves decrease in a measure, loss of interest, the destruction of a social power, arriving of a sudden calamity.
A separate group of metaphorical employment is the verb wadaka as the standard predicate of such nouns as "lottery" and "lot", presumably by extension from the situation of dice falling to the ground. Finally, death in battle is also denoted by the verb wadaka.
The Geez cognate of wadaka likewise functions as the basic verb 'to fall', whose employment is very similar to, although not identical with, its Tigrinya equivalent. Similarly, Geez sadfa does not display any significant difference from Tigrinya sadafa in its semantics and usage.
Keywords: verbs of falling, Tigrinya language, Geez language, Semitic languages, Ethio-Semitic languages.
Глаголы падения в тигринья
М. С. Булах
Национальный исследовательский университет «Высшая школа экономики», Москва; mbulakh@mail.ru
Аннотация. В статье дается обзор глаголов падения в языке тигринья (эфио-семитский язык, распространенный в Эритрее и на севере Эфиопии). Использование каждого глагола, связанного с ситуацией падения, иллюстрируется фразовыми примерами. Кроме того, данные тигринья сопоставляются с данными языка геэз, близкородственного мертвого языка. Отдельный раздел посвящен метафорическому употреблению основного глагола падения в тигринья.
Язык тигринья использует в качестве основного глагола падения глагол м>^ака, который описывает направленное вниз движение по воздуху твердого объекта, или же утрату вертикального положения для объектов с вертикальной ориентацией. Падение твердого тяжелого предмета, по воздуху или, в более редких случаях, по наклонной плоскости, может также описываться специальным глаголом sаdаfа.
Во всех случаях, отклоняющихся от этой типичной ситуации падения, тигри-нья использует особые глаголы. В геэзе глагол, родственный тигринья wаdака, также используется как основной глагол падения. Его употребление очень сходно, хотя и не полностью идентично, употреблению его соответствия в тигринья. Семантика и употребление глагола sadfa в геэзе не обнаруживают значительных расхождений с глаголом sаdаfа в тигринья.
Ключевые слова: глаголы падения, язык тигринья, язык геэз, семитские языки, эфиосемитские языки.
1. Introduction
The present contribution deals with verbs of falling in Tigrinya, a language spoken in Eritrea and northern Ethiopia (Tigray region) and belonging to the Ethio-Semitic branch of Semitic languages. Within this paper, the uncontrollable movement of a solid object from a higher to a lower point through the air is taken as the typical situation of falling. Various deviations in the mode of movement, the type of the moving object, the speed, the medium of movement, are regarded as subtypes of falling.
The paper is organized after the semantic principle: for each group of situations of falling, all applicable verbs are listed and supplied with sentential examples. A special section deals with metaphors involving falling and descending. The concluding section sums up the results of the investigation.
While the description of the pertinent verbs in Tigrinya is strictly syn-chronic, a few comparative observations have been made dealing with the employment of the cognate verbs in Geez, an extinct Ethio-Semitic language (documented since the first centuries A.D.) closely related to Tigrinya. In some cases, information on Geez semantic equivalents of certain Tigrinya verbs has been provided. Still, these remarks do not aim at a full description of the Geez system of verbs of falling. Moreover, such a description could not be entirely complete in view of the usual limitations of data on an extinct language: even for a well-attested verb such as the basic verb 'to fall', it is impossible to establish the contexts in which its employment was forbidden. Rather, the comparative data from Geez is adduced to give a glimpse on the differences in the employment of cognate verbs and in the mapping of the situation of falling in two genetically close languages. The comparative remarks are given as subsections in each of the sections of the paper,
and absence of such a subsection indicates that the pertinent examples for the basic verb of falling in Geez have not been detected, and that the other Tigrinya verbs discussed in the section lack cognates in Geez.
The Tigrinya examples are given in the conventional phonological transcription, same as used in Bulakh forthcoming (with the symbol a standing for a mid central vowel, corresponding to the IPA symbol a). Spiran-tization of the labial b and velars, which is a phonetic phenomenon, is not marked. The labialization of a in the vicinity of w and as a result of distant vocalic assimilation, and some other phonetically conditioned changes, remain unmarked. The citation form of the verbs is the 3 sg. masc. old perfective (wadaka 'to fall', etc.), in accordance with the tradition well-established in Semitic studies. For each verb references to the two-volume Tigrinya-En-glish dictionary by [Th. L. Kane 2000] are adduced, with Kane's transcription modified slightly.
2. Standard situation of falling
The basic verb 'to fall' in Tigrinya is wadaka [Kane 2000:1787], which is attested with the same meaning in most Ethio-Semitic languages [Leslau 1987:604]. It will be seen that it is applicable to most situations of falling discussed in this paper, and it is only rarely that its employment is found infelicitous or entirely unacceptable.
The standard situation of an object falling from a certain elevated point to the ground is denoted by wadaka, as in the following examples:
(1) kab garab tuffah wadika from tree apple fall.PFv3sF
'An apple fell down from the tree'.
(2) ?ita tarmus wadika tasayra art.sf bottle fall.cvB.3sF be.broken.PFv3sF
'The bottle fell down and broke'.
(3) ?ita nafarit wadika tahamsisa art.sf plane fall.cvB.3sF be.smashed.pfv3sF
'The plane fell down and was smashed to pieces'.
(4) ?ana ?ab mangaddi ?inda-kadku kalloku
1 sg in road while-go.pfysbjv1sg goal.aux.prs.1sg
kab ziban zingo ?imni wädikunni
from back zinc stone fall.PFVSBj.3sM.OBj.1sG
'As I was walking along the street, a stone fell down upon me from the roof'.
(5) säb nab gobo ?inda-hakorä sätät ?ilu man towards mountain while-climb.PFVSBJv3sM slip cvb.3sm
wädiku
fall.PFv3sM
'A man was climbing a rock, but slipped and fell down' (contrast example (138)).
(6) ?anä kab bisikletta wädikä
1 sg from bike fall.PFvlso
'I fell off from my bike'. The verb wädäkä is applied indiscriminately to heavy or light objects:
(7) kosli nab märet wädiku leaf towards earth fall.PFv3sM
'A leaf fell down to the earth' (but see also example (88)).
(8) wäräkät nab midri wädiku paper towards earth fall.PFv3sM
'A sheet of paper fell to the floor'.
(9) nay iof kintit nab midri wädiku poss bird feather towards earth fall.PFv3sM
'A bird feather fell to the earth'.
In order to indicate the way a light object moves through the air, the verb filfil bälä, defined in [Kane 2000: 2649] as 'to flutter, wave, flap (flag)', can be introduced into the sentence (as an adjunct of the verb 'to fall'):
(10) kintit filfil ?ila wädika
feather float cvb.3sf fall.PFv3sF
'The feather floated down'.
For the falling of a heavy object, a special verb sädäfä can be employed, defined in [Kane 2002: 2613] as 'to fall down, to fall off a cliff, a high building, to fall in a chasm'. It describes the falling of a heavy object from a higher level to a lower, typically sudden and with a conspicuous effect of the action (usually disastrous for the object itself or for the surroundings).
(11) ?izi hisan kab iarat sadifu dem.sm child from bed fall.PFv3sM
'The boy fell down from his bed'.
(12) kabzi gobo ?imni yisaddif ?allo from.dem.sm mountain stone fall.ipfv.3sM aux.prs.3sm
'A stone is falling down from the mountain'.
The meaning of sadafa is thus narrower than that of wadaka, and practically in all contexts the former can be replaced with the latter. Thus, in (11) and (12), wadaka can be used instead of sadafa. On the other hand, sadafa can replace wadaka in examples (2)-(6), but not in examples involving falling of light objects (examples (7)-(10)) or falling down of parts of natural objects in due time (example (1)).
2a. Comparison with Geez
In Geez, the verb wadka, cognate with Tigrinya wadaka, is likewise used as a basic verb of falling (see [Dillmann 1865: 930-931, Leslau 1987: 604]:
(13) kalabat-ni yaballaiu farfarata za-wadka dog.PL-even eat.iPFv3pM crumb.PL.Acc REL-fall.PFV.3sM
?am-ma?adda ?ag?astihomu from-table.cNST master.PL.poss.3pM
'Even dogs eat crumbs which fall from the table of their masters'. [Mt 15: 27]1
(14) wa-yatballai kuiu ba-mair wa-yzwaddzk and-be.eaten.iPFv3sM sour.grape.poss.3sM in-moment and-fall.iPFV.3sM
kama fare za-yatnaggaf like fruit REL-fall.off.iPFv3so
'His sour grape will be eaten in one moment, and it will fall as the fruit that fell off'. [Job 16: 33]; note that the second verb, tanagfa, used in this example as an equivalent of wadka, is restricted to the specific context of falling off of ripe fruits and withered leaves, see Section 7a.
1 The quoations from Geez Bible are drawn from the following editions: Bachmann 1893 (Is), Dillmann 1853 (Ex, Deut, Lev), Dillmann 1861 (II Kings), Dillmann 1894 (Sir), Esteves Pereira 1989 (Job), Löfgren 1930 (Zech), Ludolf 1701 (Ps), Zuurmond 1989 (Mk), Zuurmond 2001 (Mt), Haddis kidan (Acts).
(15) wa-Pi-tatkarram hanbabata waynaka
and-NEG-harvest.iPFV.2sM berry.PL.CNST grape.N0M.P0ss.2sM
za-wadka
REL-fall.PFV.3sM
'and you will not harvest your fallen grapes'. [Lev 19:10]
The Geez equivalent of sadafa is the verb sadfa 'fall off a cliff, fall into a hole, cast oneself down' (see [Dillmann 1865: 1314, Leslau 1987: 547]). Predictably, it is used less frequently than wadka, and describes the falling from an extreme height or into depth:
(16) sadfa ?sm-taslas fall.PFv3sM from-third.floor
'he fell off from the third floor'. [Acts 20: 9]
(17) wa-i'abda maraiayu wa-sadfa and-be.mad.PFv3sM cattle.PL.P0ss.3sM and-fall.PFv3sM
wssta bahr in sea
'And his herd became mad and rushed into the sea'. [Mk 5: 13]
(18) wa-?smma bo za-kasata i'azakta wa-la?smmahi and-if exist.3sm rel-uncover.PFv3sM pit.Acc and-if
Pakraya wa-?i-kadan-o ?afu-hu
dig.PFv3sM and-NEG-cover.sBj.3sM-OBj.3sM mouth-poss.3sM
wa-sadfa wsstetu lahm wa-?ammahi ?adg and-fall.PFv3sM in.3sM cow and-if donkey
'And if somebody uncovers a pit or if he digs one and does not cover its surface, and a cow or a donkey falls into it...'. [Ex 21: 33]
All in all, the semantics and the combinatorial properties of the Geez verb do not display any significant difference from those of its Tigrinya cognate. Admittedly, the Tigrinya verb can designate a downward movement of an object along the oblique surface (see Section 9), but no such statement can be made concerning the Geez cognate, since no relevant contexts have been detected.
Finally, it is worth while to mention that the verbal root *sdf (found, apart from Tigrinya and Geez, in Tigre and Amharic, see [Leslau 1987: 547]) is undoubtedly related to *sad(a)f 'precipice, cliff', which is attested in Geez (sadf, see [Leslau 1987: 547]), Tigrinya (sadfi, [Kane 2000: 2614]), Tigre
(sadaf, [Littmann, Hofner 1962: 648]), Amharic (tadf [Kane 1990: 2178)], and, interestingly, has a cognate in Arabic (sadaf- 'anything lofty, such as a wall and a mountain', [Lane 1863-93: 1666]). Furthermore, the Arabic verbs sadafa 'to turn away' and sadifa 'to have a crookedness in the fore legs, an inclining in the hoof towards the off side (about a horse), or an inclining of the foot of the fore leg or of the hind leg towards the off side (about a camel)' [Lane 1863-93: 1665] must also be related: their semantics may well be derived from the meaning 'to turn over', a likely narrowing of a general verb 'to fall down' (on the link between the meanings 'to fall', 'to turn over', and 'to turn back', see Section 3).
3. The loss of vertical orientation
For vertically oriented object the situation of losing the vertical position and coming to a horizontal position is likewise indicated by the verb wädäkä discussed in Section 2 (the verb sädäfä was explicitly rejected in such contexts). This involves objects like trees, street lamps, or chairs:
(19) ?inda-täsawätna ?iza sediya wädika while-play.pfysbjv1pL dem.sf chair fall.pfv.3sF
'As we were playing, the chair fell down.'
(20) ?izi gäräb wädiku dem.sm tree fall.PFv3sM
'The tree fell down'.
The latter phrase can refer to the falling of a tree cut down by the woodcutters or uprooted by wind. The uprooting is more precisely described with the following phrase:
(21) ?izi gäräb wädiku sirawru kä?a nab märet dem.SM tree fall.cvB.3sM root.PL.poss.3sM and towards earth
wäsi?om go.out.PFv3PM
'This tree fell down, and its roots appeared upon earth'.
When applied to human beings, this verb can also indicate loss of vertical orientation:
(22) bi-barad satat ?ila wadika in-ice slide cvb.1sg fall.PFv1so
'I slid upon the ice and fell down' (contrast example (6)).
Objects which are both high and long (but comparatively thin) are also considered as vertically oriented and are well compatible with the verb
wadaka:
(23) ?iti mandak wadiku art.sm wall fall.PFv3sM
'The wall overturned'.
(24) makkababiya wadiku fence fall.PFv3sM
'The fence overturned'.
(25) Pita bisikletta ?ab mandak tasaggiia art.sf bike in wall be.leaned.cvB.3sF
dahar gin wadika then but fall.PFv3sF
'The bike was leaned to the wall, then it fell down'. Quadrupeds belong to the same group:
(26) hada hadanay i'aggazen tokk^isu i'aggazen wadika one.M hunter antelope shoot.cvB.3sM antelope fall.PFv3sF
'When a hunter shot an antelope, the antelope fell down'.
(27) ?iti faras wadiku art.sm horse fall.PFv3sM
'The horse fell down'.
However, the verb wadaka is not applied to the overturning of objects which are broad as well as long, such as a car, a bus, a train, or a table. For such an object, the verb wadaka can only denote the situation of a proper falling down from an upper position to a lower level through the air (see Section 2):
(28) ?ita makkina ?anfata sihita kab dildil art.sf car direction.poss.3sF miss.cvB.3sF from bridge
wadika
fall.PFv3sF
'The car lost direction and fell down from the bridge'.
nayra aux.pst.3sf
(29) ?izi tawla kab lailay däbri wädiku dem.sm table from upper floor fall.PFV.3sM
'The table fell down from the upper floor (to the ground)'.
If the situation of toppling, overturning does not involve physical falling from a higher level to a lower one, the verbs tägälbätä 'to be overturned, to topple' [Kane 2000: 2215] or tägämtälä 'to be turned over' [Kane 2000: 2248] are used:
(30) mäkkina sätät ?ila tägälbita
car slide cvb.3sf overturn.PFv3sF
'A car slid and overturned' (**wädika is not acceptable in this context).
(31) ?izi tawla tägälbitu dem.sm table overturn.PFv3sM
'This table was turned upside down'.
(32) mäkkina/?awtobus tägämtila car/bus overturn.PFv3sF
'A car/bus overturned'.
(33) babur kab hadid ta?alya tägämtila train from track deviate.cvb.3sf overturn.pfv3sF
'A train went off the track and overturned'.
These verbs can be applied to other objects to indicate the wrong, upside-down position (not necessarily a result of accidental toppling):
(34) ?iza tärmuz tägälbita/tägämtila ?alla dem.sf bottle overturn.cvB.3sF/overturn.cvB.3sF aux.prs.3sf
'The bottle has been turned upside down'.
With animate subjects, both verbs acquire the meaning 'to turn back', and the verb tägämtälä can also be used with the meaning 'to somersault':
(35) tägälbita ri?yatinni overturn.cvB.3sF see.PFVSBj.3sF.OBj.1sG
'She turned back and looked at me' (not much in use).
(36) tägämtila ri?yatinni overturn.cvB.3sF see.PFVSBj.3sF.OBj.1sG
'She turned back and looked at me'.
(37) ?izi hisan tägämtilu dem.sm child overturn.PFv3sM
'The kid made a somersault'.
The verb tägämsäsä 'to lean over, lean to one side' [Kane 2000: 2238] is used to denote a lesser degree of overturning, loss of normal vertical position:
(38) ?ita mäkkina tägämsisa art.sf car overturn.PFv3sF
'The car tipped over (on its side) or became inclined'.
(39) ?izi tawla tägämsisu dem.sm table overturn.PFv3sM
'The table tipped over (on its side) or became inclined'.
Its basic meaning is 'to lean (upon something)', as in the following example.
(40) ?izi ?om wädiku ?ab mändäk tägämsisu dem.sm tree fall.cvB.3sM in wall overturn.PFv3sM
'The tree fell down and leaned upon a wall'.
With animate subjects, the verb tägämsäsä is consistently used to indicate the intentional lying down in order to sleep:
(41) ?iti färäs ?ab märet tägämsisu art. sm horse in earth overturn.PFv3sM
'The horse lay down (and slept) on the ground'.
(42) ?anä kigimsäs dälliyä
1 sg GOAL.overturn.iPFvlsG want.PFV.1sG
'I want to lie down' (= 'I want to sleep').
The direction of falling / overturning (to the front, to one side, backwards) is not relevant for the choice of the verb of falling:
(43) wädikä gämbäräy täsäyrä fall.cvB.lsG forehead.poss.lso be.broken.PFvlso
'I fell down and my forehead was wounded'.
(44) wädikä ?idäy täsäyrä
fall.cvB.lsG arm.poss.lso be.broken.PFvlso 'I fell down and broke my shoulder'.
(45) nissu niiay däfi?unni ni-dihrit wädikä 3sm all.1sg push.cvB.SBj.3sM.OBj.1sg all-backwards fall.pfv.1so
'He hit me so that I fell down backwards'.
For inanimate vertically oriented objects the verb täSasfä 'to be folded, turned; to be doubled, creased, to droop, to collapse' [Kane 2000: 1947] can be applied to indicate that the base of the object did not change its position:
(46) nay godäna mäbrahti täiasifa poss street lamp be.bent.PFv3sF
'The street lamp was bent'.
The verb i'atäk bälä can be used with a similar meaning. In [Kane 2000: 1938], it is defined as 'to fall and break (object)', but according to Täsfaldät Hadgämbäs, its proper meaning is 'to be tilted':
(47) ?izi ?om iatäk ?ilu wädiku dem.sm tree be.tilted cvb.3sm fall.PFv3sM
'The tree was bent and fell down'.
(48) ?izi ?om iatäk ?ilu täsäyru
dem.sm tree be.tilted cvb.3sm be.broken.PFv3sM
'The tree was bent and broke'.
The situation of falling flat (with one's whole body spread upon the ground) can be denoted by a special verb sah bälä 'to fall face forward, fall on one's face, fall flat; to prostrate oneself, to lie flat' [Kane 2000: 2549], which can be used as an adverbial adjunct to wädäkä:
(49) nissu ?ab märet sah ?ilu wädiku 3sm in earth fall.flat cvb.3sm fall.PFv3sM
'He fell flat upon the ground'.
3a. Comparison with Geez
The Geez verb wadka is likewise applicable to situations of loss of vertical position:
(50) ?ssma wadka zagba because fall.PFv3sM cedar
'For the cedar fell'. [Zech 11: 2]
(51) ?amuntu-ssa taiaksu wa-wadku 3pm-emph stumble.PFV.3pM and-fall.PFv3pM
'They stumbled and fell down'. [Ps 19:9]
(52) wa-bo?a ma?kala Palawan wa-wag?-o and-enter.PFv3sM among rebel.PM and-pierce.PFVSBj.3sM-OBj.3sM
la-l-?amannehomu ba-?afa kwinat wa-wadka
ALL-1-from.3pM iNS-mouth.cNST spear and-fall.PFv3sM
dahrita backwards
'And he entered into the midst of the rebels and pierced one of them with the point of spear, and he [the rebel] fell backwards'. [Marras-sini 1993: 86]
The Tigrinya verbs tagalbata and tagamsasa do not have reliable cognates in Geez.
For the verb tagamtala, it is tempting to suggest a connection with Geez ganpala 'distort, turn upside down, overturn' and its passive derivative taganpala [Leslau 1987: 198, Dillmann 1965: 1182]. The phonological correspondence is not fully reliable (Tigrinya t should correspond to t in Geez), yet acceptable in view of the fact that the phoneme p is extremely rare in Geez and mostly restricted to borrowings (the same is true ofp in Tigrinya). It is therefore difficult to establish exact rules of its behaviour in the indigenous vocabulary, and the correspondence between np in Geez and mt in Tigrinya is easy to imagine: the shift from the labial ejectivep to dental ejective t is compensated by the shift from dental nasal n to labial nasal m. Semantically, the Geez and Tigrinya roots are extremely close. While ta-ganpala in Geez is only attested in the figurative meaning 'to be distorted' [Dillmann 1865: 1182], the basic meaning of the root is clearly 'to turn upside down':
(53) ganpala manabartihomu overturn.PFv3sM chair.PL.poss.3pM
'he overturned their chairs'. [Dillmann 1865: 1182]
The rest of the Tigrinya verbs mentioned in this section either do not have cognates in Geez, or have cognates which are not used as verbs of falling or loss of vertical position.
Tigrinya tai'asfa has a reliable cognate in Geez, taiasfaltaiasafa 'clothe oneself' [Leslau 1987: 74, Dillmann 1865: 1024]. It is commonly assumed that the meaning 'to clothe oneself' and 'to put on clothes' (attested both
for the derived verb taiasfa/taiasafa and the source verb iasafa) is a secondary development of 'to fold up, to double (a piece of cloth)', attested for the verb iasafa ('bend, fold up, double') and for the passive participle iasuf 'folded up, double' (see [Leslau 1987: 74, Dillmann 1865: 1024]).
The Geez and Tigrinya data thus mutually confirm the statement that the basic meaning of the root isf is 'to bend'. However, the root has a wide application in Tigrinya, where it can refer to bending of solid vertical objects and thus to the situation of loss of vertical position. In Geez, in all the passages quoted in [Dillmann 1865: 1024], the root refers to the folding of clothes, hence the meaning 'to clothe oneself' (< 'to fold clothes around oneself') and the figurative meaning 'to double' (< 'to fold (cloth), to make a double layer (of cloth)'):
(54) ?asma fosuf wa?atu za-laileka because double 3sm REL-upon.2sM
'for what is upon you is twice as much'. [Job 11: 6]
Its use to describe the bending of a solid object is less frequent, but still not entirely absent:
(55) ?amma wadka ?i-yakal tansa?o ?asma if fall.PFV.3sM NEG-be.able.iPFv3sM rise.iNF because
?albo ba-za-yaiasszf barakihu neg.exist ins-REL-bend.iPFv3sM knee.PL.P0ss.3sM
'If he [the elephant] falls down he cannot rise because there is nothing by means of which he can bend his knees'. [Hommel 1877: 35]
The Tigrinya verb iatak bala 'to tilt' is probably derived from iataka 'to put a belt on one's trousers (originally to gird one's loins with a sash)' [Kane 2000: 1937]. The semantic connection between bending, tilting and the girding goes along the same lines as the colexification of the meanings 'to bend' and 'to clothe oneself' in the root isf discussed above in this subsection: obviously the girding is understood as bending, folding, or wrapping of the girdle. The cognate in Geez, iataka, is found only with the meaning 'to gird, put around the waist' [Leslau 1987: 76, Dillmann 1865: 1017].
Finally, the verb sah bala 'to lie flat' must be cognate to Geez seha 'make level, make even, pave a road' [Leslau 1987: 568, Dillmann 1865: 1308]. The Geez root, however, is not attested in the descriptions of the situation of falling.
4. Falling from inside of a container or through an aperture
There is no special verb denoting falling out of something, the verb wädäkä being applied to this situation:
(56) ?iti miftah kab borsay wädiku art. sm key from bag.poss.lso fall.PFv3sM
'The key fell out of my bag'.
(57) ?ita cacwit kab säfär nab märet wädika ART.SF chick from nest towards earth fall.PFv3sF
'The chick fell out of a nest'.
(58) ?ita dimmu kab mäskot nab märet wädika ART.SF cat from window towards earth fall.PFv3sF
'The cat fell out of window to the ground'.
Note that the verb sädäfä is acceptable in (57) and (58), but not in (56). The reason is that a key falling out of a bag is neither a heavy object, nor falls from a height, and thus, the result of its falling is insignificant.
5. Detachment of fixed objects
The falling down of objects which are loosely attached to some object, without special means of fixation, is denoted by the general verb for falling, wadaka:
(59) ?iti gaket kab takkabanno satat ?ilu wadiku art.sm jacket from hanger slip cvb.3sm fall.PFv3sM
'The jacket slipped down from a hanger and fell down'.
(60) gamad kab mantaltali wadiku rope from hook fall.PFv3sM
'A rope fell down from hook'.
(61) mankasi ?id carki kab mantaltali wadiku dryer hand cloth from hook fall.PFv3sM
'A hand towel fell down from hook'.
(62) koKäy kab ri?isäy wädika hat.poss.1so from head.poss.1so fall.PFv3sF
'My hat fell down from my head'.
(63) ?imni kab kräyn wädiku stone from crane fall.PFv3sM
'A slab fell from a crane'.
In accordance with the semantic restrictions discussed in Section 4, the verb sädäfä can replace wädäkä only in the last of these examples, where the falling object is heavy and falls from a height.
For an object which is firmly fixed (e.g. screwed) to another object, the verb moläkä 'to slip off; to become detached' [Kane 2000: 327] is usually applied2:
(64) nay mäkkina goma molika poss car tire slip.off.PFv3sF
'A tire fell off car'.
(65) ?anä zi-sämmärkuwwo mismar moliku
1 sg rel-nail.pfvsbjvsbj.1sG.obj.3sM nail slip. off.pfv.3sm
'The nail which I nailed (into a wall) fell out'.
(66) mäkdän tärmus zälika näyra
lid bottle be.loosened.cvB.3sF aux.pst.cvb.3sf
molika
slip.off. PFV3SF
'The bottle lid got loose and fell off'.
(67) gämäd täsämmira näyra dähar molika rope be.nailed.cvB.3sF aux.pst.3sf afterwards slip. off.pfv.3sf
'The rope was nailed (to a wall), but then it (got loose and) fell down'.
The verb moläkä denotes the process of getting detached from the fixed position rather than the movement downwards (note that it is not applicable for instance in the example (59) because the object is not firmly fixed from the beginning). For some of the examples given above, the verb wädäkä is also applicable, which then indicates the actual falling down to the ground:
2 The verb is also used in the meaning 'to steal off, to escape unobserved' [see Kane 2000: 327]: sab kab ?isir bet moliku wasi?u man from arrest house escape.cvb.3sm go.out.PFv3sM 'A man escaped from prison'.
(68) ?anä zi-sämmärkuwwo mismar wädiku lSG REL-nail.PFVSBJVSBJ.lsO.OBJ.3sM nail fall.PFv3sM
'The nail which I nailed (into a wall) fell down'.
(69) gämäd täsämmira näyra dähar wädika rope be.nailed.cvB.3sF aux.pst.3sf afterwards fall.PFv3sF
'The rope was nailed (to a wall), but then it fell down'.
The following examples, in each of them both wädäkä and moläkä are employed, illustrate the difference between the two verbs:
(70) natäy käläbät nay kalkidanäy zälaklak poss.Isg ring poss matrimony.poss.lsG be.loosened
Pilatinni dähar kitmolluk däliya
PFVSBj.3sF.OBj.lsG afterwards ooAL.slip.off.iPFv3sF want.PFv3sF
Panä gin käyyitwäddik Pilä Pawsiyä
Isg but goal.neg.fall.iPFv3sF say.cvB.lsG take. out.pfvIsg
'My wedding ring got a bit loose and then it was about to come off, so I took it off to prevent it from falling down' (the speaker is not so much afraid of the ring getting detached from the finger as of its falling down to the ground and getting lost).
(71) Pizi mismar kab mändäk moliku nab märet dem.sm nail from wall slip.off.cvB.3sM towards earth
wädiku
fall.PFv3sM
'The nail got detached from its position on the wall and fell down to the ground'.
6. Falling to pieces
The situation of falling to pieces of buildings or other built structures normally is not described by the verb of falling wädäkä. On the contrary, the verb sädäfä can be used in such contexts, as an equivalent of the verb färäsä 'to collapse, crumble, to fall' [Kane 2000: 2660]. The latter is the default verb to describe such a situation:
(72) Piti gäza färisu/sädifu
art. sm house collapse.pfv.3sM
'The house collapsed'.
(73) ?iti wäddi bi-cika gäza särihu dihar ?iti art.sm boy ins-mud house make.PFv3sM afterwards art.sm
gäza bai'lu färisu house self.3sM collapse.PFv3sM
'The boy built a house of mud, but then this house fell apart by itself'.
The verb i'anäwä 'to collapse' [Kane 2000: 1889] can also be used in the same contexts, implying a stronger degree of destruction:
(74) ?iti hinsa ianiyu art.sm building collapse.PFv3sM
'The building was completely demolished'.
The application of the verb wädäkä to the situation of destruction is only possible if the destruction is accompanied with the proper falling down, as in the case of a bridge, or of losing the vertical orientation, as in the case of a wall or a fence (see Section 3):
(75) ?izi dildil wädiku
dem.sm bridge fall.PFV.3sM
'This bridge fell down' (the same situation can also be described as ?izi dildil färisu dem.sm bridge collapse.pfv.3sm 'This bridge collapsed', or ?izi dildil ianiyu dem.sm bridge collapse.pfv.3sm 'This bridge was totally destroyed').
(76) ?iti mändäk wädiku art.sm wall fall.PFv3sM
'The wall fell down (the same situation can also be described as ?iti mändäk färisu art.sm wall collapse.pfv.3sm 'The wall collapsed', or ?iti mändäk ianiyu art.sm wall collapse.pfv.3sm 'The wall was totally destroyed').
(77) mäkkabäbiya wädiku
fence fall.PFV.3sM
'A fence fell down' (the same situation can also be described as mäkkabäbiya färisu fence collapse.pfv.3sm 'A fence collapsed' or mäkkabäbiya ianiyu fence collapse.pfv.3sm 'A fence was totally destroyed').
The same motivation — the fact that the destruction entails the physical fall of the object — must be behind the application of the verb wädäkä to the situation of the ceiling falling down:
(78) Pizi nahsi zätitu kiwäddik däliyu dem.sm ceiling be.curved.cvB.3sM GOAL.fall.iPFV 3sm want.PFv3sM
'The ceiling became curved and is threatening to fall'.
The verb wädäkä is also — quite predictably — applied to a man falling through the broken ceiling:
(79) bäzi nahsi Pintähalifka kitwäddik Pika
in.DEM.SM ceiling if.pass.PFv2sM GOAL.fall.IPFV.2sM COP.2SM 'If you walk over this ceiling you will fall through'.
As for the falling in of a riverbank, the verb wädäkä is applicable to this situation only if the subject denotes the earth which is falling:
(80) bisänki figrä märet Pizi hamäd wädiku because erosion.cnst earth dem.sm soil fall.PFv3sM
'Because of erosion the soil fell down'.
(81) Pab gämgäm wihig zirikkäb märet wädiku in bank river REL.be.situated.iPFv3sM earth fall.PFv3sM
'The earth which was on the bank of the stream fell down'.
A special verb täbahgwägwä 'to be washed away, to be eroded' [Kane 2000: ll08] is also used with the noun 'earth' or 'soil' as its subject:
(82) Pab gämagim kälay zirikkäb märet on bank.PL lake REL.be.situated.iPFv3sM earth
täbahgigu
be.eroded.PFv3sM
'The earth which was on the banks of the lake was eroded'
The term gämgäm '(river)bank' is compatible neither with wädäkä nor with täbahgwägwä, nor with färäsä: **gämgäm wädiku, **gämgäm täbahgigu, **gämgäm färisu are all unacceptable for the native speaker.
6a. Comparison with Geez
Unlike its cognate in Tigrinya, the verb wadka in Geez is well attested to refer to collapse of buildings:
(83) wa-hanasu kv9llo takma wa-kwallo and-build.PFV.3pM all.3sM.Acc wall.Acc and-all.3sM.Acc
?arafta za-wadka ba-hagara gabs bulwark.Acc REL-fall.PFv3sM in-land.cNST Egypt
'And they built (again) every wall and every bulwark which collapsed in the land of Egypt'. [Vanderkam 1989: 239]
(84) wa-zanma zanam wa-wahzu ?aflag wa-nafhu and-rain.PFv3sM rain and-flow.3pM flood.PL and-blow.PFv3pM
nafasat wa-gafiawo la-wa?atu bet
wind.pl and-oppress.sBj.3pM.OBj.3sM all-dem.sm.nom house
wa-wadka wa-kona iabiya dakatu
and-fall.PFV.3sM and-become.PFv3sM big.M.ACc fall.P0ss.3sM.N0M
'The rain came, and floods flowed, and winds blew, and they afflicted this house, and it collapsed, and its destruction was great'. [Mt 7: 27]
(85) wa-?am-dahra-za ?agabba?a
and-from-after-DEM.SM.NOM bring.back.iPFVSBj.1sG.OBj.3sF
wa-?ahannasa la-beta dawit za-wadkat
and-build.iPFVSBj.1sG.OBj.3sF ALL-house.cNST David REL-fall.PFV.3sF
wa-?anaddak mazbara
and-build.iPFv1sG ruin.poss.3sF
'And after this I will restore and build again the house of David which had collapsed, and I will build anew its ruins'. [Acts 15: 16]
This employment can well be explained by the Greek influence: all the relevant texts are translations from Greek, where in the corresponding passages the verbpipto 'to fall' or its derivatives are used.
7. Falling down of parts of natural objects which have reached the stage at which they are expected to be detached from the main body
The situation of a leaf falling from the tree or of petals falling from the flower can be denoted by a general verb for falling, wädäkä (see also examples (1), (7); note that the verb sädäfä is not used in such contexts):
(86) ?aksulti wädikom leaf.PL fall.PFV.3pM
'Leaves fell down (in the autumn)'.
(87) sigge nay iimbaba wadiku petal poss flower fall.PFv3sM
'The petals of a flower fell off'.
However, more natural is the employment of the special verb ragafa 'to fall off (leaves), to break off, break loose (fruit, leaf), to shed a coat (livestock)' [Kane 2000: 610]:
(88) kosli ragifu
leaf fall.off.PFv3sM
'A leaf fell down'.
(89) ?aksulti yiragfu leaf.PL fall.off.iPFv3pM
'Leaves fall down (in the autumn)'.
(90) ?aksulti ragifom
leaf.PL fall.off.PFv3pM
'Leaves fell down'.
(91) sigge nay iimbaba ragifu
petal poss flower fall.off.PFv3sM
'The petals of a flower fell off'.
(92) iimbaba mis nakasa sigga?u ragifu flower when wither.PFV.SBJV.3sM petal.poss.3sM fall.off.PFv3sM
'When the flower withered, its petals fell off'.
(93) fira nay ?oransi ragifu
fruit poss orange fall. off.pfv.3sm
'The oranges fell down (from the orange-tree)'.
(94) fira mis basala ragifu
fruit when ripen.PFVSBJv3sM fall. off.pfv.3sm
'When the fruits became ripe, they fell down (from the tree)'.
The verb ragafa is consistently used with objects which are parts of human or animal body and which fall off for natural reasons (e.g. at a certain age):
(95) sab mis ?araga sogru yiraggif man when be.old.PFVSBJV.3sM hair.poss.3sM fall.off.iPFv3sM
'When a man gets old, his hair falls out'.
(96) ?izi säb mis ?arägä ?asnanu dem.sm man when be.old.PFV.SBJv3sM tooth.PL.poss.3sM
rägifu
fall.off.PFv3sM
'When this man got old, his teeth fell out'.
(97) sogri nayzi kälbi rägifu gäza ?abbalasiyu hair poss.dem.sm dog fall.off.cvB.3sM house spoil.PFv3sM
'The hair of this dog started to fall out and spoiled the house' (** sogri nayzi kälbi wädiku hair poss.dem.sm dog fall.PFV.3sM is not acceptable).
(98) nay tämän korbot rägifu
poss snake skin fall.off.PFv3sM
'A snake skin fell off' (**nay tämän korbot wädiku poss snake skin fall.pfv.3sM is not acceptable).
The verb wädäkä is incompatible with such objects as animal hair or snake skin, but can be applied (with some hesitation) to the falling out of teeth and human hair:
(99) sinnu wädiku tooth.poss.3sM fall.PFv3sM
'His teeth fell out' (less acceptable than sinnu rägifu).
(100) ?izi säb mis ?arägä sogru wädiku dem.sm man when be.old.PFV.SBJv3sM hair.poss.3sM fall.PFv3sM
'When this man got old, his hair fell out' (less acceptable than so-gru rägifu).
However, the verb rägäfä is not acceptable in a sentence which focuses on the actual falling down of the object:
(101) sogri ri?säy nab migbi wädika hair head.poss.1so towards food fall.PFv3sF
'A hair from my head fell into the dish' (**rägifa is not acceptable).
To describe the falling out of milk teeth of a child, the verb goräfä 'to lose milk teeth' [Kane 2000: 2278] is usually employed, with its subject encoding the person whose teeth fall out or are pulled:
(102) ?ita gwal haddus sinni kätäbukkul däliya art.sf girl new tooth goal.let.grow.iPFv3sF want.cvB.3sF
sinna gorifa
tooth.poss.3sF lose.teeth.PFv3sF
'Since the new teeth of the girl were about to grow, her (milk) teeth fell out (lit. she shed her milk teeth)'.
(103) ?ana i'idmay sadusta i'amat mis basahku
1 sg age.poss.1so six year when reach.pfvsbjv1so
sinnay gorifa
tooth.poss.1so lose.teeth.PFv1so
'When I reached the age of six years, I lost my (milk) teeth'.
(104) wadday sinni mugraf gammiru boy.poss.1so tooth lose.teeth.iNF begin.PFv3sM
'My son started to lose his (milk) teeth'.
(105) koli'a mis i'abaya sinni yigorrif
child when be.big.PFVSBJv3sM tooth lose.teeth.iPFV.3sM
'When a child grows up, he loses his (milk) teeth'.
The verb gorafa was defined by Tasfaldat Hadgambas as referring to teeth being pulled out by force. The falling out of milk teeth is thus perceived as involving external aid.3 The verb gorafa is not restricted to a situation of losing one's milk teeth, as one can infer from the following example (about a grown-up person):
(106) ?ana nab hakim kayda sinnay gorifa
1 sg towards doctor go.cvB.1so tooth.poss.1so lose.teeth.PFv1sg
'I went to a doctor and had my tooth pulled out'.
7a. Comparison with Geez
Neither ragafa nor gorafa have reliable cognates in Geez (Leslau [1987: 464-465] mentions ragafa 'fall to the ground (fruit, leaves)', but no such root is attested in [Dillmann 1865], and the entry in Leslau's dictionary must be founded on local glossaries of Geez which are not fully reliable).
3 But its subject cannot encode a person pulling someone else's tooth. For this situation, the causative derivative ?agwrafa is applied: ?iti hakim ni-sinnay ?agwrifullay dem. sm doctor all-tooth.poss.1so pull.out.pfvsbj.3sM.appl.1sg 'The doctor pulled out my tooth'.
While the verb wadka is applicable in the situation of leaves or fruits falling off the tree (see above, examples (14), (15)), the most common lexeme to describe such a situation is apparently the verb tanagfa 'fall off' [Leslau 1987: 391, Dillmann 1865: 696]:
(107) kama k^asla iss za-ssfuk kwaslu za-kadami
like leaf.cNST tree REL-dense.M leaf.poss.3sM REL-first.M
yatnaggaf wa-dahari yssarrss fall.off.iPFv3sM and-last.M sprout. ipfv3sm
'Like the leaves of a tree with dense foliage: the first one falls off and the last one sprouts'. [Sir 14: 18]
(108) kvasl za-tanagfa ?sm-nafas leaf REL-fall.off.PFv3sM from-wind
'A leaf which had been shaken off because of wind'. [Job 13:25]
(109) wa-tatarri i'ssawata zayt wssta kwsllu and-possess.iPFv2sM tree.PL.CNST olive in all.3sM.NOM
dawalska wa-?i-t3tkabba? ksb?a
region.NOM.poss.2sM and-NEG-be.anointed.iPFV.2sM oil.Acc
?3mannehu ?ssma tanagfa fsrehu from.3sM because fall.off.PFv3sM fruit.poss.3sM
'You shall possess olive trees in each of your regions, but you will not anoint yourself with its oil because its fruit will fall off'. [Deut 28: 40]
The semantic and functional similarity between Geez tanagfa and Tigrinya rägäfä is also demonstrated by the fact that the Amharic räggäfä (which corresponds to Tigrinya rägäfä both etymologically and functionally, see [Kane 1990: 422]) is used as a gloss to Geez tanagfa in the traditional Geez-Amharic lexical list quoted in [Dillmann 1865: 696].
The Geez verb tanagfa is a reflexive-passive derivative from nagafa 'shake, shake off, knock off', which is typically used with an animate agent to denote shaking or casting something off one's body, or simply shaking or casting something:
(110) n9gafu sabala ?3garikamu shake.iMP.PM dust.cNST foot.PL.poss.2pM
'Shake the dust off your feet!' [Mt 10: 14]
(111) wa-nagafa pawlos ?sdehu and-shake.PFv3sM Paul hand.poss.3sM
'And Paul shook his hand'. [Acts 28: 5]
(112) nagafomu la-gabs ma?kala bahr shake.pfvsbj.3sm.obj.3pm all-Egypt among sea
'He (the God) knocked the Egyptians into the middle of the sea'. [Ex 14: 27]
Remarkably, the same verb can be used with non-agentive subjects:
(113) íasa tarbentos ?anta nagafat k^asla tree.cnst terebinth rel.sf shake.PFv3sF leaf.poss.3sF
'The terebinth which cast off its foliage'. [Is 1: 30]4
Furthermore, in post-Aksumite Geez there is at least one attestation of the same verb nagafa intransitively, with the meaning 'to fall off (about the spines of a hedgehog):
(114) wa-yabela la-kanfaz ysngsf
and-say.PFVSBj.3sM.OBj.3sF all-hedgehog fall.off.juss.3sM
sagwraki ba-hayla ?amlakiya wa-soba
hair.N0M.P0ss.2sF iNS-power.cNST lord.poss.1so and-when
yabe kama-za nagafa sagwra
say.PFv3sM like-DEM.sm.NOM fall. off.pfv.3sm hair.poss.3sF
wa-konat i'araka
and-become.PFv3sF naked.poss.3sF
'And he told the hedgehog: let your fur fall off by the power of my Lord! and as he said so, the fur of the hedgehog fell off, and it became naked' [Marrassini 2003: 303 (ed.), 106 (tr.)]5
The influence of the above-mentioned Amharic raggafa can well account for this change of diathesis. Whether the Geez root ngf is etymolog-ically related to Tigrinya rgf and/or gwrf remains an open question (the irregular phonological correspondence n — r is an obstacle, but the semantic proximity is remarkable).
4 See a similar employment of gorafa 'to shed (milk) teeth' in Tigrinya. It is this usage of nagafa which apparently gave rise to the derivative tanagfa (lit. 'to be shaken off') used with the meaning 'to fall off (about leaves etc.)'.
5 This meaning is attested neither in [Leslau 1987] nor in [Dillmann 1865], but see TraCES online edition of [Dillmann 1865] with additions, http://betamasaheft.eu/Dillmann/ ?mode=none&q=%E1%8A%90%E1%8C%88%E1%8D%88&id=Lb33f230d206c 46e9948b412d6e71e25b (accessed on 01.02.2019).
8. Falling down of liquids and granular materials
The verb wädäkä is never applied to liquids. Thus, sentences like **may yiwäddik 'Water falls' or **may wädiku 'Water has fallen down', **simia nab ?idäy wädikunni 'Wax fell upon my hand' are unacceptable. Similarly, the verb sädäfä is not used to describe the falling/streaming down of liquids.
Instead, verbs of flowing, leaking and dripping are applied, such as wähazä 'to flow' [Kane 2000: 1718], nätäbä 'to fall in drops, to drop (water), to drip (water)' [Kane 2000: 1381], fäsäsä 'to be spilled, poured (out) (water, grain, etc.), to flow (liquid, stream), to run (water), to fall (water)' [Kane 2000: 2677], särär bälä 'to ooze, exude' [Kane 2000: 2563], lähakwä 'to drip, run (water along a wall after leaking through a roof), lo leak, to seep, filter through (intransitive)' [Kane 2000: 71]. Of these, the verb wähazä is said to denote unconstrained, usually horizontal movement of water or other liquids:
(115) zinab mis zänäbä may ?ab märet wihizu rain when rain.PFV.SBJv3sM water in earth flow.PFv3sM
'After rain, water flooded over the earth' . For flowing downwards, the verb fäsäsä is most commonly used:
(116) bumba täkäfita may fäsisu
tap be.opened.cvB.3sF water flow.PFv3sM
'The water tap was opened and the water flowed (from the tap)'.
(117) nay simia mikkak nab kidanäy poss wax liquid towards dress.poss.1so
fäsisunni
flow.PFVSBJ.3sM.OBJ.1sG
'The melted wax flowed upon my dress'. Other verbs are used to describe various modes of movement of water:
(118) may nätibu
water drip.PFv3sM
'(A drop of) water has dripped'.
(119) simia nab ?idäy nätibunni
wax towards hand.poss.1so drip.PFVSBj.3sM.OBj.1sc
'Wax dripped upon my hand'.
(120) niKat sarar ?ilu
tear flow pfv3sm
'The tears flowed down'.
(121) kab nahsi may sarar yibil ?allo
from ceiling water flow ipfv3sm aux.prs.3sm
'Water is flowing from the ceiling'.
(122) kab nahsi may lihiku from ceiling water leak.PFV.3sM
'Water has leaked from the ceiling'.
For description of waterfall, a special verb PançaÇçtÇa 'to cascade' [Kane 2000: 2528] is used (see also mançaÇçaÇta 'cascade, cataract, waterfall', ibid.):
(123) may yançaÇçiÇ ?allo
water cascade.iPFv3sM aux.prs.3sm
'Water is cascading'.
The verb warada 'to descend' [Kane 2000: 1733] is also applicable to water:
(124) may kab gobo yiwarrid ?allo
water from mountain descend.iPFv3sM aux.prs.3sm
'Water is flowing down from the mountain'.
The verb wadaka is not applied to rainfall. A number of special verbs and lexical constructions are used for rain, with zinab 'rain' or may 'water' as subject, and the verbs such as zanaba 'to rain' [Kane 2000: 1996], harama 'to hit, strike; to pelt (rain)' [Kane 2000: 14], kafaya 'to drizzle' [Kane 2000: 1697], nataba 'to drip (water)' [Kane 2000: 1381] as predicates:
(125) zinab zanibu rain rain.PFv3sM
'It rained'.
(126) may harimu
water strike.PFv3sM
'It rained'.
(127) may kafiyu
water drizzle.PFv3sM
'It drizzled'.
(128) may yinättib silä-zällo silal hizki water drip.iPFv3sM because-REL.Aux.PRS.3sM umbrella take.cvB.2sF
wis?i
go.out.iMP.SF
'Since it is drizzling, take your umbrella before going out'.
The verb wädäkä is not used to describe the situation of snowing. The noun bäräd 'snow, ice', when combined with this verb, is interpreted as a designation of a solid object:
(129) bäräd dubb ?ilu wädiku ice fall.loudly cvb.3sm fall.PFv3sM
'An icicle fell with a loud noise'. Snowfall can be denoted with the verb wärädä 'to descend':
(130) bäräd yiwärrid ?allo
snow descend.iPFv3sM aux.prs.3sm
'It is snowing'.
For granular materials, the verb wädäkä is sometimes applicable, but only when a large quantity of the substance is involved (in which case the whole mass is apparently perceived as a solid object):
(131) nab märet bizuh haric silä-zi-wädäkä towards earth much flour because-REL-fall.PFVSBJv3sM
misrag ?alloni
sweep.INF be.PRS.SBj.3sM.OBj.1sG
'Since a lot of flour fell down to the floor, I have to sweep (the floor)'.
The verb wädäkä is predictably applied to describe a container with a granular material falling down (the grammatical subject of the verb may denote the granular material itself):
(132) ?ab kärätit zällo ?ikli wädiku in sack rel.be.prs.3sm grain fall.PFv3sM
'The grain in a sack fell down'.
However, if granular material is spilled to the surface, the use of wädäkä is blocked. Instead, exactly as with liquids, a special verb denoting spilling is used (fäsäsä 'to be spilled, poured (out) (water, grain, etc.)', [Kane 2000: 2677]):
(133) kab kofo hiruc fasisu from container flour spill.PFv3sM
'The flour from the container spilled (upon the floor)'.
(134) kab makkina hamad fasisu from car soil spill.PFv3sM
'Some soil spilled from the car (which was carrying a load of soil)'.
(135) karatit takadidu ?ikli fasisu sack be.torn.cvB.3sM grain spill.PFv3sM
'The sack tore, and the grain spilled' (**karatit takadidu ?ikli wadiku sack be.torn.cvB.3sM grain fall.PFV.3sM is not acceptable).
Remarkably, the verb fasasa is not compatible with solid objects in large quantities, where the verb wadaka is used instead:
(136) karatit takadidu hasin wadiku sack tear.cvB.3sM nail fall.PFv3sM
'The sack tore, and the iron nails fell out' (contrast example (135)).
8a. Comparison with Geez
Among the verbs related to movement of liquids and granular materials discussed in this section, only two have reliable cognates in Geez. Tigrinya wähazä has an exact phonetic and semantic equivalent in Geez wahza 'flow (stream, water)' [Leslau 1987: 610, Dillmann 1865: 892]. Tigrinya nätäbä corresponds to natba 'drop, trickle' [Leslau 1987: 408, Dillmann 1865: 696].
9. Downward movement along the oblique surface
In a situation of falling down from a rock or a mountain, it is distinguished between falling down through the air and between rolling down. The first situation is described by wadaka (see example (5)), whereas for the second one, the verb ?ankoraraya/?ankorarawa 'to roll' [Kane 2000: 1606] is used, sometimes as an adverbial adjunct to warada 'to descend':
(137) ?imni kab gobo ?ankorariyu stone from mountain roll.PFV.3sM
'A stone rolled down from the mountain'.
(138) säb kab gobo sätät ?ilu kab gobo man from mountain slip cvb.3sm from mountain
?ankorariyu
roll.PFV.3sM
'A man, having slipped down, rolled down from the mountain' (contrast example (5)).
(139) kuiso kab laili ?ankorariya wärida
ball from above roll.cvB.3sF descend.PFv3sF
'A ball rolled down from an upper level'.
(140) ?iti ?om kab gobo ?ankorariyu wäridu art.sm tree from mountain roll.cvB.3sM descend.pfv.3sM
'The tree rolled down from the mountain'.
However, the verb ?ankoraräyä is not restricted to movement downwards, rather it denotes a rolling movement in general:
(141) kuiso ?ab märet tankoraru ?alla
ball in earth roll.iPFv3sF aux.prs.3sf
'A ball is rolling on the ground'.
While wädäkä is not compatible with the verb ?ankoraräyäl ?an-koraräwä, the verb sädäfä can be used to indicate the direction, with the implication that the moving object is heavy:
(142) ?imni kab gobo ?indankoraräwä yisäddif stone from mountain while.roll.PFVSBJv3sM fall.iPFv3sM
?allo
aux.prs.3sm
'The stone rolled down from the mountain'.
9a. Comparison with Geez
It is tempting to compare the Tigrinya verb ?ankoraräyä with the Geez ?ankwarkwara 'roll (transitive, intransitive)' [Leslau 1987: 292, Dillmann
1865: 838]. The two verbs are extremely close semantically, while formally they represent different extensions of the biradical element kvr.
10. Movement downwards in water
Neither wadaka nor sadafa is not applicable to the situation of an object sinking in the water. Instead, a special verb tahala 'to sink, to submerge' [Kane 2000: 2409] is employed:
(143) dabtaray ?ab may tihila notebook.poss.1so in water sink.PFV.3sF
'My notebook sank into the water' (contrast dabtaray nab may wadika ta?alika notebook.poss.1sg towards water fall.cvB.3sF be-come.soaked.PFV.3sF 'My notebook fell into the water and got wet', where the verb wadaka refers to the fall through the air to the water surface, which may or may not be following by sinking).
(144) galba tihila
boat sink.PFV.3sF 'A boat sank'.
10a. Comparison with Geez
The verb tähalä is apparently related to Geez tahala 'settle (dregs)' [Leslau 1987: 590; Dillmann 1865: 1216], which seems to be a development of 'to sink into water (about dregs)'. The only relevant passage quoted in [Dillmann 1865: 1216], however, does not refer to sinking at all: wasta mantaft yatahal hasar in sieve settle.ipfv.3sm straw 'the straw remains as dregs in the sieve' [Sir 27: 4]. As Leslau [1987: 590] suggests, the verb can well be a denominative from tahl 'sediments, dregs' [Leslau 1987: 590; Dillmann 1865: 1216], whereas the noun can go back to the root 'to sink'. Its further connection with the root thl 'to throw', marginally attested in Geez (see [Leslau 1987: 589; Dillmann 1865: 1216]), but widespread in South Ethio-Semitic (for the etymology see [Leslau 1987: 589]), cannot be excluded.
11. Intentional fall
The verb wädäkä is never used to denote intentional movement downwards. Thus, about a soldier rushing down in order to escape the bullets the verb bätt bälä 'to lie down' [Kane 2000: 1206] would be used:
(145) wättahadär ?ab midri bätt ?ilu tähabi?u soldier in earth lie.down cvb.3sm be.hidden.PFv3sM
'A soldier hid himself by falling down to earth' (the use of wädäkä in this phrase would mean that he fell down by accident).
Similarly, in a description of a parachute jump, the employment of the verb wädäkä implies that the parachute is out of order:
(146) ?izi wäddi kab sämay wädiku mikniyatu ?iti dem.sm boy from sky fall.PFv3sM because art.sm
zi-tätäkämällu gantila
rel-use.pfv. sbjvsbj.3sm.appl.3sm parachute
silä-zi-täbalasäwo
because-REL-be.spoiled.PFVSBJVSBj.3sM.OBj.3sM
'This boy fell down because the parachute which he was using was damaged'.
For a normal parachute jump the verb wärädä 'to descend' [Kane 2000: 1733] or ?ansafäfä 'to soar, glide, hover (in the air); to float (transitive)' [Kane 2000: 800] can be used:
(147) ?ab sämay bi-gantila ?ansafifu in sky ins-parachute float. pfv3sm
'He floated in the sky with a parachute'.
(148) bi-gantila wäridu iNS-parachute descend.PFv3sM
'He came down with a parachute'.
On the contrary, the verb wärädä is inapplicable in some situations of uncontrolled fall: **kosli nab märet wäridu leaf towards earth descend. pfv.3sm 'A leaf descended to the ground' is unacceptable (but note the employment of wärädä in (124), (130), (139), (140)).
Interestingly, the verb sädäfä can be applied to intentional action at least in informal speech:
(149) bazi gerka sidaf
in.DEM.SM do.cvB.2sM fall.iMP.2sM
'Go down this way!' (used when showing the road in the mountains).
11a. Comparison with Geez
Unlike its Tigrinya cognate, the Geez verb wadka can be used to describe intentional movement downwards:
(150) wa-soba bo?a haba dawit wadka diba madr
and-when enter.PFv3sM towards David fall.PFv3sM on earth
wa-sagada lottu
and-prostrate.pfv.3sM all.3sm
'When he came to David he fell to the ground and prostrated before him'. [2 Kings 1: 2]
Similarly, the employment of sadfa in Geez does not seem to be incompatible with the intentionality (see the example (17), where the interpretation of the movement as intentional cannot be excluded).
The Tigrinya verbs batt bala and ?ansafafa do not have reliable cognates in Geez (although the Geez verb safafa is rendered as 'float, be afloat' in [Leslau 1987], this interpretation is not supported by the actual attestations in the texts quoted in Dillmann 1865: 409).
The Tigrinya verb warada goes back to the common Semitic root *wrd 'to descend, come down' (see [Kogan 2015: 385]), well attested in Geez as warada with the same meaning [Leslau 1987: 617, Dillmann 1865: 901]. Both the Tigrinya and Geez verbs (as well as their cognates in the other Semitic languages) usually refer to regular agentive movement downwards and are not associated with proper falling.
12. Change of level
In the course of the present investigation I have been able to detect only one example of wadaka applied to a physical process which does not involve fall in a proper sense:
(151) bihuk wädiku
dough fall.PFV.3sM
'The dough fell down (after it had raised)' (see also [Kane 2000: 1788]).
However, wädäkä is not applicable to a similar situation of a water level sinking (for instance, in the dike), where, instead, the verb wärädä 'to descend' is used:
(152) nay diga iakän may wäridu
poss dike measure water descend.pfv.3sM
'The level of water in the dike dropped'.
13. Metaphors of falling
The basic verb for falling, wädäkä, is somewhat restricted in its metaphorical usage. When used to describe various changes of state, it mostly implies an abrupt, unexpected (and often unpleasant) change, and is opposed to the verb wärädä 'to descend, to go down', which is the default means to describe gradual, normal change of state.
13.1. Decrease in measure
Decrease in a scalar measure is normally described by the verb wärädä (see also example (152)):
(153) iakän mukot kab timali lomi wäridu measure heat from yesterday today descend.PFv3sM
'The heat has diminished today in comparison to yesterday'.
(154) ?ab hagay nay ?atkilti waga yiwärrid
in summer poss vegetable price descend.iPFv3sM
'In summer the vegetable prices fall'.
(155) ?izi wäddi bizuh gize silä-zi-hamämä
dem.sm boy much time because-rel-be.ill.PFVSBJv3sM
mizanu wäridu
measure.poss.3sM descend.PFv3sM
'The weight of this boy went down because he was ill for a long time'.
(156) nayzi telefon waga waridu poss.dem.sm phone price descend.PFv3sM
'The price of this (cellular) phone has decreased'.
The verb wadaka 'to fall', if used in similar contexts, implies an abrupt change:
(157) nayzi telefon waga wadiku poss.dem.sm phone price fall.PFv3sM
'The price of this (cellular) phone has fallen drastically' (contrast example (156)).
(158) nay rubl waga ?ab hassir gize wadiku poss rouble price in short time fall.PFv3sM
'The rate of rouble has fallen drastically within a short period of time'.
However, the use of wadaka in this function is restricted. This must be due to the fact that the notion of the lowest point is an integral part of the semantics of wadaka, but not of warada. The examples (157) and (158) can be rephrased as "the price has reached its lowest point", "the price has reached the zero point". In example (159) (and in similar sentences about temperature of human body and blood pressure), the native speaker was reluctant to use wadaka even to describe a drastic change. The verb warada was used as a more or less full synonym of kannasa 'to diminish':
(159) ?izi waddi rasni neruwo ?ita doktor dem.sm boy fever be.pfvsbj.3sM.obj.3sM art.sf doctor
madhanit mis habatto natu i'akan
medicine when give.pfvsbjvsbj.3sf.obj.3sm poss.3sm measure
rasni waridu fever descend.PFv3sM
'This boy had fever. When the nurse gave him medicine, his temperature went down'.
(160) nay hisan matan rasni kab salasan sommontan nab poss child amount fever from thirty.and eight.and towards
salasan sobi'atan waridu/kannisu
thirty.and seven.and descend.PFv3sM/diminish.PFv3sM
'The child's fever has diminished from 38 to 37 degrees'.
nayti sab sakti dam kab mi?tin hamsan
poss.art.sm man pressure blood from hundred.and fifty.and
nab sabia wäridu towards seventy descend.PFV.3sM
'The man's blood pressure went down from 150 to 70'.
(162) nayti säb säkti däm kab mi?tin hamsan poss.art.sm man pressure blood from hundred.and fifty.and
nab mi?tin iisran wäridu/kännisu
towards hundred.and twenty. and descend.PFv3sM/diminish.PFv3sM
'The man's blood pressure went down from 150 to 120'.
(163) ?anä bä-zigäbro sportawi nitfätat nay 1 sg ins-rel.do.ipfv.sbj.1 sg.obj.3sm sport activity.pl poss
kibdätäy iakän wäridu
weight.poss.1so measure descend.PFv3sM
'My weight went down because of my sport activities'.
According to Täsfaldät Hadgämbäs, the use of wädäkä in these contexts is unacceptable because it would mean 'to go to zero point'. Only in the context of weight measuring, with some reluctance, he produced a sentence with wädäkä, to describe a rapid and conspicuous change (example (164), which differs from example (165) only in quantitative characteristic of the change):
(164) ?izi säb?ay nay kibdätu mizan kab mi?ti dem.sm man poss weight.poss.3sM measure from hundred
nab hamsa wäridu/wädiku
towards fifty descend.PFv3sM/fall.PFv3sM
'The weight of this man went down from 100 to 50' (wädäkä is less preferable than wärädä).
(165) ?izi säb?ay nay kibdätu mizan kab mi?ti dem.sm man poss weight.poss.3sM measure from hundred
nab sämanya wäridu towards eighty descend.PFV.3sM
'The weight of this man went down from 100 to 80' (wädäkä not acceptable).
13.2. Decrease or loss of interest, desire
Both wädäkä and wärädä can be applied in situation of decrease in desire, enthusiasm, willingness to do something, although wädäkä, interpreted
as a stronger variant of warada (compare examples (166) and (167)), is less acceptable for Tasfaldat Hadgambas.
(166) nay mimhar bahgay waridu
poss study. inf desire.poss.1so descend.PFv3sM
'My desire to study has diminished'.
(167) nay mimhar bahgay wadiku poss study. inf desire.poss.1so fall.PFv3sM
'My desire to learn has totally disappeared' (the wording is less common than in (166)).
nay kuiso ?igri mir?ay poss ball foot see.iNF
(168) ?izi waddi
DEM.SM boy
waridu
descend.PFV.3sM
'This boy has lost interest in watching football'.
simmii'itu feeling.poss.3sm
(169) ?izi waddi
DEM.SM boy
wadiku
fall.PFv3sM
nay kuiso ?igri mir?ay poss ball foot see.iNF
simmii'itu feeling.poss.3sm
'This boy has absolutely lost interest in watching football' (less acceptable than (168)).
13.3. Loss of power
The verb wadaka is regularly used to describe the destruction of a social power: fall of a political regime, disintegration of a state. Since the verb in its direct meaning never describes buildings falling apart (see Section 6), the metaphor "state is a building" can hardly underlie the examples (170) or (171). Rather, a calque from Amharic or from European languages can be suspected.
(170) ?ab sihin tsiiatta mi?tin ?arbiian hadan
in thousand.and nine hundred.and forty.and one.M.and
mangisti tilyan giz?atu ?ab ?eritra wadiku government Italian rule.poss.3sM in Eritrea fall.PFv3sM
'In 1941 the rule of Italian government in Eritrea came to end'.
(171) nay sovyät hibrät mis wädäkä haddis siriat poss Soviet union when fall.pfvsbjv3sm new regime
tämäsritu be.founded. pfv 3 sm
'When Soviet Union collapsed, a new regime was founded'.
This employment is restricted to the entities of political rule and the verb wädäkä is never used to describe the surrender of a fortress or a town, liquidation of an enterprise, separation of spouses. Furthermore, the employment of wädäkä in the examples above indicates that the change was abrupt and brought about by force. A peaceful change of power can be indicated by the verb wärädä with an animate subject, as in example (172).
(172) nay ?ityopya täklali ministär kab siltan wäridu
poss Ethiopia general minister from power descend.pfv.3sM
'The Prime Minister of Ethiopia has retired'.
13.4. Sudden calamity
Both wädäkä and wärädä (without significant difference in meaning) can be used with subjects denoting various negative events, the affected participant(s) being encoded as direct object (the same government is also possible with the literal meaning 'to fall', see example (4)). The employment of the verb wärädä is usually preferred:
(173) zäyhassäbkuwo mäkkära
rel.neg.think.sBJVPFVSBj.1 sg.obj.3sm misfortune wäridunni/wädikunni
descend.PFVSBj.3sM.OBj.1sG/fall.PFVSBj.3sM.OBj.1sG
'An unexpected misfortune has befallen me' (wärädä is preferable).
(174) ni-sidra betom hadäga all-family house.poss.3pM calamity
wädikuwom/wäriduwom
fall.pfv sbj.3sM.obj.3pM/descend.pfv sbj.3sm.obj.3pm 'Their family was afflicted by a calamity'.
The arriving of a common disaster is usually described by the verb wärädä (whereas the afflicted participants are left unexpressed), as in examples (175)-(178).
(175) k^inat waridu
war descend.PFv3sM
'A war began'.
(176) rahab waridu hunger descend.PFv3sM
'A famine began'.
(177) ?abzi iamat tamahalalafti himamat ?abzi ?akkababi
in.DEM.SM year contagious.PL disease.PL in.DEM.SM area
waridu
descend.PFV.3sM
'This year contagious diseases have spread in this area'.
(178) ?abza hagar kiliwliw nay kutuba waridu in.DEM.SF land crisis poss economy descend.PFv3sM
'An economic crisis has begun in this country'.
The verb wadaka can be applied in situations of sudden emergence of something entailing additional amount of work. A more specific verb dubb ?ilu 'to fall with a thud, to plop' ([Kane 2000: 3220]; for a direct employment see example (129)) can be used in the same contexts.
(179) ni-bet kursna bizhi zallowom ALL-house breakfast.poss.1pL abundance REL.be.sbj.3sm.obj.3pm
iamawil handabat dubb Pilomuna/wadikomuna
client.PL suddenly fall.loudly PFVSBj.3pM.OBj.1pL/fall.PFVSBj.3pM.OBj.1pL
'Suddenly too many clients appeared in our cafe (more than we can accommodate)'.
If the event is welcome, the verbs of falling are inappropriate, contrast examples (180) and (181) (but compare also example (186)).
(180) haddis sirah wadikunni
new work fall.PFVSBj.3sM.OBj.1sG
'I unexpectedly got new work to do'.
(181) ganzab ?aynabarannin gin zayhassabkuwo
money NEG.be.PFVSBJv3sM but REL.NEG.think.PFVSBJV.SBJ.1sG.OBJ.3sM
sirah masiPunni
work come.PFV.SBj.3sM.OBj.1sG
'I had no money, but unexpectedly I got new job' (wadaka is less acceptable here).
13.5. Falling of a lot
The nouns iicca 'lot, drawing of lots, lottery' [Kane 2000: 1940] and lottori 'lottery' (lotärya in [Kane 2000: 104]) are consistently used with the verb wädäkä as the subject. The motivation here is in all probability the conceptualization of a lottery as falling of dice or similar objects (importantly, this employment of wädäkä is not extended to such situations as election, where the decision is not made by chance).
(182) iicca nay märet wädiku lot poss earth fall.pfv.3sM
'The drawing of lots for land (a procedure to distribute the land) took place'.
(183) lottori wädiku lottery fall.PFv3sM
'A lottery drawing was held'. [Kane 2000: 1788]
More common is construction with the organizer of the lottery encoded as the subject of the causative verb ?awdäkä 'to cause to fall' [Kane 2000: 1788], as in examples (184) and (185).
(184) iicca ?awdikna niiay bäsihatinni
lot let.fall.cvB.1pL all.1sg reach.PFVSBj.3sF.OBj.1sg
'We drew lots, and I won'.
(185) mängisti lottori ?awdiku niiay government lottery let.fall.cvB.3sM all.1sg
bäsihatinni reach.PFV.sbj.3sF.obj.1 sg
'The government organized a lottery, and I won'.
The predicate wädäkä can also attach a direct object expressing the recipient of the good or bad lot, as in (186) (although the verb bäshä 'to reach, to come' is more commonly used in this function, see (185)).
(186) sibbuk iicca wädikunni good.M lot fall.PFV.SBj.3sM.OBj.1sG
'I drew a happy lot'.
The metaphor of casting lots may also underlie the use of wädäkä in the examples (187)-(189).
(187) ?ana lomi himmak iiddil wadikunni
1 sg today bad luck fall.pfvsbj.3sM.obj.1sc
'I had bad luck today (unexpectedly)' (waridunni is also possible, compare also examples (173), (174)).
(188) nissu ?ab fatana himmak hittotat wadikomwo
3sm in examination bad question.pl fall.pfvsbj.3pM.obj.3sM
'He got difficult questions during the examination' (waridomwo is also possible, compare also examples (173), (174))
(189) ?izi habti handabat wadikuwom dem.sm wealth suddenly fall.pfvsbj.3sM.obj.3pM
'The wealth unexpectedly came to them'
Example (189) is especially interesting, since in the discussion of the example (181), my language consultant explicitly stated that wadaka is usually associated with negative unexpected events. In (189), the event is definitely positive, but the use of wadaka is still allowed by Tasfaldat Hadgam-bas, who explained it as an indication of the suddenness, unexpectedness and lack of control on the part of the involved person: the event is perceived as drawing a happy lot.
13.6. Death in a battle
The verb wadaka is consistently used to describe the glorious death of soldiers in a battle (the subject being typically the noun gagna 'hero').
(190) kinday gaganu wadikom how.many hero.PL fall.PFv3pM
'How many heroes have fallen (in the battle)?'
However, according to Tasfaldat Hadgambas, the same verb can be applied with negative connotations, meaning 'to be thrown (on the battlefield), left unburied'. The verb tadarbaya 'to be thrown away; to be abandoned' [Kane 2000: 2084] can be used in the same context as a more colloquial expression.
(191) nay sala?i wattahadarat ?abzi wadikom/tadarbiyom poss enemy soldier.pl in.dem.sm fall.PFv3pM/be.thrown.PFv3pM
'The (bodies of) enemy's soldiers are dispersed here'.
13.7. Attack
In [Kane 2000: 1788], an example of the verb wädäkä in the meaning 'to attack' is given:
(192) lomi läyti ?ab iadna siftatat wädikomna
today night in village.poss.1pL brigand.PL fall.cvB.SBj.3pM.OBj.1pL
kwillu gäzatat gorgoru all house.PL ransack.PFv3pM
'Last night, brigands suddenly fell upon our village and ransacked all the houses'.
However, this usage was explicitly rejected by Täsfaldät Hadgämbäs.
14. Conclusion
The basic verb in Tigrinya used strictly to denote the physical falling down of a solid object is wädäkä. Its default interpretation is (an accidental) falling down through the air of a solid object. With vertically oriented objects it normally denotes loss of vertical position, with animate vertically oriented objects it can denote falling down through the air or loss of vertical position. It is extremely rarely used to denote any other types of downward movement (the only pertinent example is discussed in Section 12).
A verb of falling with a narrower semantics and different combinatorial properties is sädäfä. It is used to denote the fast downward movement of a solid, heavy object, either through the air or, less typically, along an oblique surface. The denoted situation is a sudden event with a perceptible effect, usually negative for the object itself or for its surroundings. This verb is not applied to loss of vertical position.
In all situations where the physical falling down through the air or loss of a vertical position of a solid object is not involved or is not in the focus of the statement, special verbs are used. With liquids and granular materials, verbs of flowing, dripping, and spilling are used (see Section 8). For rain and snow, special meteorological expressions are employed (see Section 8). For detachment from a fixed position of artefacts and natural objects, the verbs 'to slip off' and 'to fall off' are used (see Sections 5, 7). For collapsing of buildings and various structures, the verbs with the meaning 'to be
destroyed' are applied (see Section 6; the verb sadafa can also be used in such contexts). For downward movement in water, the verb 'to sink' is used (see Section 10).
Comparison with Geez reveals two important differences in the mapping of falling down: firstly, the Geez basic verb for falling can denote collapse of buildings and other constructions (see Section 6a); secondly, it can refer to intentional loss of vertical orientation (see Section 11a). It is interesting to observe that Geez, exactly as Tigrinya, employs a special verb to denote falling of ripe fruits or withered leaves, although the Geez verb is morphologically more complex than its Tigrinya equivalent (see Section 7a). Both in Tigrinya and Geez, in certain contexts the non-agentive participant an integral part of which falls off due to natural reasons can be encoded as the subject (and the fallen off part is encoded as the direct object; see Section 7).
Abbreviations
acc — accusative; appl — applicative; art — article; aux — auxiliary; cnst — constructus state (marker of the head of the possessive construction); cop — copula; cvb — converb; dem — demonstrative; Deut — Deuteronomy; emph — emphasis; Ex — Exodus; exist — existential copula; goal — goal; imp — imperative; inf — infinitive; ins — instrumental; ipfv — imperfective; Is — Isaiah; Job — Job; Lev — Leviticus; m — masculine; Mk — Mark; Mt — Matthew; nom — nominative; neg — negative; obj — object; pfv — perfective; pl — plural; pm — plural masculine; poss — possessive; prs — present; Ps — Psalms; pst — past; rel — relative; sbj — subject; sbjv — subjunctive; sf — singular feminine; sg — singular; Sir — Sirach; sm — singular masculine; Zech — Zechariah.
References
Bulakh forthcoming — M. Bulakh (forthcoming). Tigrinya. R. Meyer, Zelealem Leyew Temesgen, Bedilu Wakjira Debela (eds.). Oxford Handbook of Ethiopian Languages. Dillmann 1865 — A. Dillmann. Lexicon linguae aethiopicae cum indice latino. Lip-
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