Weird linguistic behavior with family member words

[WeepingElf]

Travis refers to the construction with what is called the dative external possessor, as in Ich wasche mir die Hände 'I wash my hands'. It would be weird to say Ich wasche mir meine Hände (but Ich wasche meine Hände is OK). But it would also be weird to say Ich wasche mir das Auto; you say Ich wasche mein Auto.

Ah, thank you, I hadn't thought of that. Not sure if the distinction there is purely between body parts and everything else. For instance, I might also say "Ich habe mir das T-Shirt eingesaut" "I got my t-shirt dirty/messed up".

Of course, the T-shirt is neither a body part nor an inalienable possession, but it is at least closer to the body than a car. And I feel as if this construction implies that I did so while wearing it (as opposed to getting it dirty by using it to mop up dirt, or anything like that).

[Travis B.]

Travis refers to the construction with what is called the dative external possessor, as in Ich wasche mir die Hände 'I wash my hands'. It would be weird to say Ich wasche mir meine Hände (but Ich wasche meine Hände is OK). But it would also be weird to say Ich wasche mir das Auto; you say Ich wasche mein Auto.

Ah, thank you, I hadn't thought of that. Not sure if the distinction there is purely between body parts and everything else. For instance, I might also say "Ich habe mir das T-Shirt eingesaut" "I got my t-shirt dirty/messed up".

Of course, the T-shirt is neither a body part nor an inalienable possession, but it is at least closer to the body than a car. And I feel as if this construction implies that I did so while wearing it (as opposed to getting it dirty by using it to mop up dirt, or anything like that).

Apparently clothing patterns with body parts this way in use cases like this.

[Richard W]

This is just one "exotic" linguistic feature that occasionally shines up in this or that major European language. Another is ergatiity - just look at the English suffix -ee: an escapee is someone who escapes, but an employee is not someone who employs, rather someone who is employed. Ergativity in English!

That doesn't look like ergativity to me. Moreover, it doesn't mean 'one who escapes', but 'one who has escaped'. It's simply a case of the active/passive distinction being lost, which is also common with intransitive verbs. It's related to past passive participles being used without the sense 'past' or without the sense 'passive',