Talk:κοκκινομάλλων

RFD discussion: November 2018

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κοκκινομάλλων

Not attested, nominated by @Sarri.greek - this noun lacks a genitive plural, like many other Greek nouns. — Saltmarsh. 06:27, 22 November 2018 (UTC)

But this form is widely used on the contrary. This is strange why so many Greek nouns are supposed to lack genitive forms that have no reason not to exist. 176.147.224.55 20:44, 22 November 2018 (UTC)

Greek κοκκινομάλλα (redhead) -quite rare, I have to admit: mostly we are brunettes- feminine of κοκκινομάλλης. Adjectives with second combining form the word -haired μαλλ(ιά) which are also substantivized. The legitimate combinations are:
ΑΝΥ colour (red:κοκκιν(ο)-, white:ασπρ(ο)-, black:μαυρ(ο)-) + 1) -ο-+-μάλλης, 2. + -ό-+-μαλλος with stress shift, 3. -ο-+-μάλλικος. So we have

• 1. κοκκινομάλλης^DSMG, fem. κοκκινομάλλα (no genitive plural),
• 2. a possible κοκκινόμαλλος (grammatically correct, but not as frequent as blond ξανθόμαλλος), fem κοκκινόμαλλη (gen.pl: κοκκινόμαλλων with persistent stress, UNLIKE the ancient expected stress shift)
• 3. κοκκινομάλλικος, fem. κοκκινομάλλικη (gen.pl κοκκινομάλλικων),
• and 2 extra rare poetic feminines κοκκινομαλλού with plural NOT -ούδες but borrowed from κακκινομαλλούσα (no genitive plural).

There is no κοκκινομάλλων by ALL grammars and dictionaries (Holton §3.9, nounO25a @DSMG, Babiniotis, schoolbooks). The fact that 290 greeks say κοκκινομάλλων instead of the possible correct κοκκινόμαλλων by only 6 greeks (among them is the writer w:Nikos Dimou) is no surprise. They form it after genitives of the ancient -ος fem words like διάλεκτος (dialect), gen.pl διαλέκτων with stress shift. I have found wrong types exceeding the correct ones by thousands, many times. Barbarisms seem to follow Gresham's law. People attach ancient style endings to purely demotic words. (Note: genitive, especially genitive plural tends to be replaced by preposition(of, for)+accusative. Genitives are becoming rarer and rarer.) One more example for blonds: ξανθομάλλων (5 results, all in old greek texts, quasi ancient) and the modern ξανθόμαλλων with 98 results. sarri.greek (talk) 22:54, 22 November 2018 (UTC) (ex brunette, now grey-haired)

We aim to record actual use, not what grammar books and dictionaries say is correct. If necessary, we can state that a form is considered a spelling error or ungrammatical, or otherwise subject to disapproval.  --Lambiam 18:03, 23 November 2018 (UTC)

I have added a note to κοκκινομάλλα's inflection table and removed the rfd. — Saltmarsh. 07:23, 24 November 2018 (UTC)