The original Indo-European declensions were thematic (corresponding to the Greek second declension) and athematic (corresponding to the Greek third declension).

The first declension was a late innovation in Proto-Indo-European, involving a suffixed –e[math]h_2[/math] > -ā. It postdates the split of Hittite.

The masculine first declension nouns were an even later innovation, and they were specific to two patterns: the agent suffix –tās/tēs, and adjectival compounds like chrysokomēs ‘golden-haired’. Sihler just shrugs his shoulders about –tās:

The functional specialization of the type as an agent noun is partly the result of its coincidental similarity to inherited -τηρ, -τωρ [the more archaic agent suffix]. Why the formation would show an early and striking partiality for masc. ā-stem inflection, rather than (say) masc *-τος, fem. *-τᾱ, is however an enigma. (§267)

The adjective ending on the other hand looks to me a pummelling of a feminine noun into a masculine: χρυσὴ κώμη ‘golden.fem hair.fem’ > χρυσο-κώμη-ς {golden-hair.fem}.masc.

So, the first declension originated as a feminine declension. A masculine first declension was tacked on in proto-Greek. There was never any driver to add on a neuter first declension as well: there was no agent suffix or adjective formation that would make it happen. But that’s just randomness as much as anything.

There’s an excerpt of the 1536 Old and New Testament by Ioannikios Kartanos: Παλαιά τε και Νέα Διαθήκη. However that is a translation of an Italian paraphrase, and not really a translation.

A list of the New Testament translations is available at Μεταφράσεις της Αγίας Γραφής. The list includes:

• Maximos of Gallipoli, 1638
• Vamvas, 1850 (Biblehub)
• Pallis, 1902
• Louvaris & Hastoupis, 1960
• “The Four Professors”, Vellas, Antoniadis, Alivizatos & Konidaris, 1967 (NTV?)
• Jehovah’s Witnesses translation, 1993
• Filos, 1993 (Bible.is)
• Zodiatis, 1994
• Delikostopoulos, 1995
• Today’s Greek Version (Η Αγία Γραφή, Μετάφραση από τα Πρωτότυπα Κείμενα), 1997 (TGV: http://el.bibles.com presumably)

The 1638 translation by Maximos of Gallipoli is not online, as far as I can tell. It was published in 1999 (and I own it): Μάξιμος Καλλιπολίτης, Η Καινή Διαθήκη του Κυρίου ημών Ιησού Χριστού, Επιμ, Εμμανουήλ Χ. Κάσδαγλη , Τόμος Α’, ΜΙΕΤ Αθήνα 1995, Τόμος Β’,ΜΙΕΤ Αθήνα 1999, Επιλεγόμενα Άλκη Αγγέλου, Παράρτημα Συναγωγή Μεταφρασμάτων, Επιμέλεια Ευφημίας Εξίσου / Αγαμέμνονα Τσελίκα,ΜΙΕΤ Αθήνα 1999,

The 1902 translation into Demotic of the Gospels by Alexandros Pallis—the one that caused riots in Athens and 8 deaths—is available as a PDF: Η Νέα Διαθήκη : κατά το βατικανό χειρόγραφο / μεταφρασμένη από τον Αλέξ. Πάλλη.

People of Quora.

I am shocked.

No, shocked I tell you. I am blown away. I am flabbergasted.

Verklempt, even.

Orphaned answers: No Notification

Herein, I had posted a month ago about the fact that we get no notification that questions we have answered have been deleted.

Well, we do now:

… I’d hate to think Quora UX got the idea from me…

I’ve already written Nick Nicholas’ answer to How can one use the word “Quora” in a limerick? But how could I pass up an A2A from Vicky?

1. I would have felt much jubilation,
   had Quora sent notification
   that User
   limericked mentioning me;
   but @-mentions… lack mitigation.
2. So, there once was a young synaesthete
   who gained fandom with Quora’s elite.
   She’s regaled us with stories
   of her working girl glories
   and entranced us with jokes indiscreet!
3. When on Quora, I write unabashed.
   A2A me? I’ll give it a bash!
   I make friends near and far,
   and I follow my star.
   But UX fails shall sting to my lash.
4. Where the erudite gather to grumble,
   and the recondite rally to rumble:
   where the droll draw their japes,
   and the heroes their capes:
   there you’ll find me, in rough and in tumble.
5. “Share and grow the world’s knowledge,” said D’Angelo,
   crisp as bacon, and sharp as a tangelo.
   Yet on Quora we socialise,
   because knowledge, we realise,
   is much harder to pin down than flan jello.

Thanks, Martin!

I went to my mobile; I didn’t even know that feature was on there. (And why it would be on mobile not desktop is puzzling.)

164.

I am not conscious or discriminate about topics I answer, although there are no-go areas for me—science for example. I don’t have humanities training as such (linguistics does not comport itself as a humanities), but the answers I enjoy most are those where I venture into cultural studies or history, armed with a couple of Wikipedia pages and my own good sense, and try and make sense of a narrative.

But I do have core topics of competency, and I write more about them than others. I do worry that I write too much meta-content (Quora), especially as my Quora answer count has recently overtaken my Greek Language answer count. But I don’t find that results in me choosing not to answer a question about Quora. The way I manage my mountain of A2As is to take my time about getting to them: if someone else has gotten to one before me, and has done a good job of it, I can cross it off my list in good conscience.

I do feel bad about not answering enough questions about programming, and none about IT policy; but I’m not used to doing it (despite Miguel Paraz’s best efforts).

Are there topics I won’t answer despite being knowledgeable about them? No, not really. I’m just not circumspect in that way. I barely even correct myself here…

Originally Answered:

What are some major social faux pas to avoid when visiting Australia?

Sitting in the back seat of a cab. I occasionally see Indian cab drivers unaware of the unspoken egalitarian norm here, hurrying to clear their crap from the front seat. But by default, if you sit in the back seat of a cab, you are taken as treating the cab driver as the Hired Help.

And yes, the cab driver is the hired help. But woe betide you if you actually act like it.

Obvious, but confirmed:

Marcia Peterson Buckie [es]

Marcia Peterson Buckie [en]

• Looks like questions have been seeded into French Quora by machine translation; reportedly that has also happened in the Spanish Quora. Réponse de Alexandre Coninx à Les premières questions de la beta de Quora en français ont-elles été écrites par des robots ou traduites aléatoirement ?
• The French sounds odd to some: Est-ce que c’est juste moi, ou est-ce que les questions et réponses sur Quora en Français ont l’air bizarre pour vous aussi ? That’s reportedly not primarily because of bots, but because the users are not all native speakers, a bunch of native speakers are long-time residents abroad, and a lot of native speakers are used to the style of the English Quora.
• Wow, Habib le toubib comes across very different in French. So… courtois!
• Speaking of which: BNBR in French is Soyez Courtois Soyez Respecteux.
• They’re using vous instead of tu in French Quora. Les Quorans francophones devraient-ils plutôt se tutoyer ou se vouvoyer entre eux ? That’s not going to happen on the German Quora, I presume.
• The limit of 300 characters on a question shall not be relaxed for the more prolix French language. Réponse de Sihem Soibinet-Fekih à La limite du nombre de caractères dans une question sur le Quora Français a-t-elle été adaptée en fonction du taux de foisonnement ?
• Sihem Soibinet-Fekih: “International Writer Relations chez Quora (2017-présent)” (What, they don’t translate job titles in Mountain View?) At least she cited Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux in defence of the 300 character limit, which wins her points. Whether Boileau would welcome the twitteresque (and maudit anglaise) char limit is a different matter.
• The site is very new, and the questions aren’t grabbing me quite yet, but I’m seeing a lot of potential, and it’s not just French Politics 24–7.

Laura Hancock and Vicky Prest, especially when Laura changed her profile pic to what basically looks identical to Vicky’s profile pic at small resolution.

I said *small* resolution.

In fact, I saw a selfie on a post by Vicky once, and was about to comment “hey, I thought you never posted pictures of yourself”—only to realise oops, Laura.

And I think it’s more the profile pics than anything else. I mean yes, they have some similarities: both cool, both non-het, both sex positive, both “outspoken”; but really, not *that* similar.

While I roll my eyes at The Mission Statement, Quora has stated two rationales for its walled garden which guarantee that the Internet Archive will stay on their spider block list:

• Authors retain copyright for their contributions, and Quora only retains a non-exclusive license to publish. The terms & conditions do not authorise blanket republication elsewhere without the author’s permission, and Quora would consider spidering to be republication. It’s why Quora is so restrictive on author’s self-archiving: you can only archive your own posts, and you can’t include others’ comments.
• Quora wants people to be able to unperson themselves from Quora—to delete their accounts and contributions to Quora, without them being retrievable elsewhere.