DIACHRONIC INVESTIGATION OF THE NOUNS WITH COLLECTIVE MEANING IN THE GERMAN LANGUAGE

Abstract

The category of collectivity is one of the oldest in Germanic languages and is characterized by the following features: it contains the notion of a holistic set of objects; at the grammatical level can have a formal indicator; it can take the singular form. In German the given category is expressed by separate prefixes, in particular the prefix ge-, which originates from Latin com-, con- and has a long-term meaning “compatible”, which allows it to combine single homogeneous objects and express collectivity. The results contain new information about the origin and development of the prefix ge- in German and can be used in the practice of teaching German and in the course of lectures on the history of the German language.

Keywords

• категорія збірності
• іменники збірності
• готська мова
• давньоверхньонімецька мова
• нововерхньонімецька мова