Meanings
- pluralplural of formans
Superficially based on *temeen ‘camel’, but possibly rather connected to *tebene ‘pack needle’. The suffixes are formantia with unknown function.
2011, Hans Nugteren, Mongolic Phonology and the Qinghai-Gansu Languages, archived from the original on 24 May 2024, page 602 more examples
Such criteria are either sound variations in the words themselves, or the addition of formantia, i.e. suffixes or auxiliaries which define them as being true verbs (as opposed to nouns) or nouns (as opposed to verbs).
1961, Bernhard Karlgren, “The parts of speech and the Chinese language”, in Language and Society, page 75These facts then clearly evidence such elements as enclitical particles which exercise certain morphological and/or syntactical functions, but which have not yet developed into actual suffixes obliged to conform to sound-harmony and the general accentuation pattern. Some elements of this type are the formantia of the cas. compar. in -däg, and the cas. aequat. (prosecut., mensurat., terminat.) in -ča/-čä in the nominal category, and the formans of the negative aspect in -ma-/-mä- in the verbal category.
1968, Karl H. Menges, The Turkic Languages and Peoples, page 157
Cite this entry
formantia. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/formantia
“formantia.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/formantia. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “formantia,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/formantia.
Source: formantia on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.