Etymology of Quechua Kay

Authors

  • Jonathan Geary Boston College, Linguistics & History

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6017/lf.v2i1.5455

Abstract

This article examines the Quechua word kay, which is often glossed as 'this' and treated as a demonstrative pronoun.  As I propose in this paper, kay actually consists of the verb stem ka- 'to be, exist' and the substantivizing suffix -y, having a meaning closer to 'existence' in all circumstances.

Author Biography

Jonathan Geary, Boston College, Linguistics & History

Jon is an undergraduate student at Boston College from Pittsburgh, PA, who is interested in morphophonology; endangered languages and language documentation; dialectal variation; psycholinguistics; historical linguistics; Arabic; Quechua; and Pittsburghese.

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Published

2014-08-19

How to Cite

Geary, J. (2014). Etymology of Quechua Kay. Lingua Frankly, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.6017/lf.v2i1.5455

Issue

Vol. 2 (2014)

Section

Special Features

License

Copyright (c) 2015 Lingua Frankly

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