Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/-ǭ
Proto-Germanic
Etymology
Partial merger of Proto-Indo-European *-ō(n) and Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ (see also *-ō). The former originally conjugated as Proto-Indo-European amphikinetic n-stems, but because of the *ā > *ō sound change they came to coincide with the latter in the nominative singular, which lead to the suffix ablaut being lost. Why the feminine and masculine *-ō(n) sounded differently in Germanic though, despite having originally sounded the same, is an open question.[1]
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɔ̃ː/
Alternative forms
- *-ōn
Noun
*-ǭ f
- -ess. Forms agent nouns, often from the zero-grade form of the base.
Inflection
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | *-ǭ | *-ōniz |
| vocative | *-ǭ | *-ōniz |
| accusative | *-ōnų | *-ōnunz |
| genitive | *-ōniz | *-ōnǫ̂ |
| dative | *-ōni | *-ōmaz |
| instrumental | *-ōnē | *-ōmiz |
Coordinate terms
- *-ô m (“-er”)
Derived terms
Proto-Germanic terms suffixed with *-ǭ
Descendants
- Proto-West Germanic: *-ā
- Old English: -e
- Old Frisian: -e
- Old Saxon: -a
- Old Dutch: -a
- Old High German: -a
- Old Norse: -a
- Icelandic: -a
- Old Swedish: -a
- Swedish: -a
- Gothic: -𐍉 (-ō)
References
- ^ Guus Kroonen (2011) The Proto-Germanic n-stems: a study in diachronic morphophonology (Leiden studies in Indo-European; 18), Amsterdam, New York: Rodopi, →ISBN, pages 36-37