ABSTRACT
REFLEXIVE AND RECIPROCAL PRONOUNS 225 another," the only difference being the identity or non-identity of subject and object. Thus also G. "ich schmeichele mir," " icb spotte meiner" contain the same verb as "ich schmeichele dir," "ich spotte seiher." The only cases in which one might fairly speak of a reflexive verb would be those in which a verb is found idiomatically with no other object than a reflexive pronoun, as in E. I pride myself, Dan. jeg forsnakker mig, G. ich schame mich. The identity of subject and object (direct or indirect) influences the choice of the auxiliary in Fr. il s'est tue 'he has killed himself,' nous noU8 sommes demande 'we have asked ourselves (or one another '). It is a different thing that what is expressed in our languages with a reflexive pronoun may in some languages be expressed by a separate form of the verb, as in the Greek" middle voice": louomai' I wash myself,' etc. (the same form having also a passive signification, see Oh. XII, p. 168). In Scandinavian the reflexive pronoun sik has in a reduced form been fused with many verbal forms, which then generally have acquired a purely passive meaning: han kaldes, originally 'he calls himself,' now 'he is called.' Sometimes the meaning is reciprocal: de sMs (with a. short vowel) 'they fight (strike one another) '; in this verb there is another form with a long vowel (and glottal catch) for the passive ,la(e)s ' is struck.' In Russian the reflexive pronoun tends in a simiJar way to be fused with verbs in the two forms sja and s' (in spite of the spelling pronounced with a non-palatalized s); on the various meanings (distinctly reflexive, vaguely reflexive, reciprocal, approximately passive) see H. Pedersen RG 190, Boyer and Speranski M 247.
