The Contribution of Germanic to the Expansion of Partitive-Related Phenomena in the Prehistoric Circum-Baltic Area1

Abstract

The primary objective of this article is to expand the discussion on partitive-related phenomena diffusion in the prehistoric Circum-Baltic area by considering the role of early Germanic languages. The central message is that early Germanic languages have been historically overlooked in the study of partitive phenomena in the Circum-Baltic area, and this paper aims to address this oversight. After briefly discussing the main hypotheses related to the development and spread of partitive functions, the focus will shift to two understudied phenomena in early Germanic languages, namely the ‘genitive of quantification’ and the ‘genitive of negation’. It will be shown that these two phenomena were present in early Germanic languages, suggesting that they should be included in further studies concerned with contact in the prehistoric Circum-Baltic area.