> Von: Tomas Zerolo > > > There can be transformations or inflections, like the "s" in > > > "Weinachtsbaum" (Weinachten/Baum). > > > > I remember from my linguistics studies that the terminus technicus > > for these is "Fugenmorphem" (interstitial or joint morpheme) [...] > > IANAL (I am not a linguist -- pun intended ;) but I've always read > that as a genitive. Any pointers?
Admittedly, that's what you'd think, and despite linguistics telling me otherwise I'd maintain there's some truth in it. For this case, however, consider: "die Weihnacht" declines like "die Nacht", so: nom. die Weihnacht gen. der Weihnacht dat. der Weihnacht akk. die Weihnacht As you can see, there's no "s" to be found anywhere, not even in the genitive. But my gut feeling, like yours, is that this should indicate genitive, and I would make a point of well-argued gut feeling being at least as relevant as formalist analysis. Michael
