Action Nouns in -τις/-σις as Second Members of Nominal Compounds in Greek

In Ancient Greek, action nouns in -τις/-σις almost never enter nominal composition. In their place, we find second members either in -σία (being morphologically linked to noun stems in -τ-, e.g. ἐργάτης ‘worker’ → ἐργασία ‘work’) or in -ία (being linked to thematic o-grade compounds, e.g. λιθοβόλος ‘throwing stones’ → λιθοβολία ‘throwing of stones’). Moreover, when action nouns in -τις/-σις actually enter compounds as second members, their meaning usually shifts from reference to the verbal process to a more concrete meaning, e.g. οἰνήρυσις ‘vessel for drawing wine’, λεοντόβασις ‘base in the form of a lion’, whereas compound nouns in -τις/-σις referring to the verbal process are even rarer, being for the most part mere variants of corresponding compounds ending in -ία. Considering that correspondents of Greek action nouns in -τις/-σις in other Indo-European languages (e.g. Sanskrit) do form nominal compounds, this paper considers the relationship between action nouns in -τις/-σις and the morphological process of nominal composition, seeking to outline the different subtypes of compounds they form in Greek and their morphological and semantic features.