Re: Romance demonstratives (WAS: Just a Little Taste of Judean (Part 2))

FFlores wrote:

> What was _ipse_? I was under the impression that it meant "same",
> "self-" (Spanish/French _se_?) but I can't figure out how that
> could evolve to mean "that".
It got weakened to mean simply "this, that".  In Sardinian and
some dialects of Catalan (as well as Brithenig), the articles
descend from "ipse" and take forms like "su" and "sa".

The Catalan dialects can actually make a distinction:
"la mort" = "Death [abstract]", whereas "sa mort" = "the death [of which
we were speaking, etc.]"

--
John Cowan      http://www.ccil.org/~cowan              cowan@ccil.org
        You tollerday donsk?  N.  You tolkatiff scowegian?  Nn.
        You spigotty anglease?  Nnn.  You phonio saxo?  Nnnn.
                Clear all so!  'Tis a Jute.... (Finnegans Wake 16.5)