Allative case
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Allative case (abbreviated ALL; from Latin allāt-, afferre "to bring to") is a type of locative case. The term allative is generally used for the lative case in the majority of languages that do not make finer distinctions.
Finnish[edit]
In the Finnish language (Uralic language), the allative is the fifth of the locative cases, with the basic meaning of "onto". Its ending is -lle, for example pöytä (table) and pöydälle (onto the top of the table). In addition, it is the logical complement of the adessive case for referring to "being around the place". For example, koululle means "to the vicinity of the school". With time, the use is the same: ruokatunti (lunch break) and ... lähti ruokatunnille ("... left to the lunch break"). Some actions require the case, e.g. kävely - mennä kävelylle "a walk - go for a walk".
The other locative cases in Finnish and Estonian are these:
- Inessive case ("in")
- Elative case ("out of")
- Illative case ("into")
- Adessive case ("on")
- Ablative case ("from off")
Baltic languages[edit]
In the Lithuanian and Latvian languages the allative had been used dialectally as an innovation since the Proto-Indo-European, but it is almost out of use in modern times. Its ending in Lithuanian is -op which was shortened from -opi, whereas its ending in Latvian is -up. In the modern languages the remains of the allative can be found in certain fixed expressions that have become adverbs, such as Lithuanian išėjo Dievop ("gone to God", i.e. died), velniop! ("to hell!"), nuteisti myriop ("sentence to death"), rudeniop ("towards autumn"), vakarop ("towards the evening"), Latvian mājup ("towards home"), kalnup ("uphill"), lejup ("downhill").
Greek[edit]
In Mycenaean Greek, a -de ending is used to denote an allative, when it is not being used as an enclitic,[1] e.g. te-qa-de, *Tʰēgʷasde, "to Thebes" (Linear B: 𐀳𐀣𐀆). This ending survives into Ancient Greek in words such as Athḗnaze,[2] from accusative Athḗnās + -de.
English[edit]
In Modern English, the suffix -ward/-wards can be regarded as a newly-developed limited form of allative case. It indicates motion direction in some adjectives and adverbs that derive from some limited set of nouns.
Wanyi[edit]
Wanyi, an extinct Australian language, had the allative suffixes -kurru/wurru.
Latin[edit]
The Latin accusative of towns and small islands is used for motion towards[3] in a way that is analogous to the allative case.
References[edit]
- ^ Ventris, Michael and John Chadwick. Documents in Mycenaean Greek
- ^ Ἀθήναζε. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project.
- ^ Allen and Greenough, sect. 427
