Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/-naną

This Proto-Germanic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Germanic

Etymology

Reconstructed by Ringe[1] from an alternating suffix *-nō- (singular) ~ *-na- (nonsingular), from Proto-Indo-European *-néh₂- ~ *-nh₂-, from n-infix presents to laryngeal-final roots that were reanalysed as a separate suffix (as in several other branches).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /nɑ.nɑ̃/

Verb

*-naną

  1. Forms fientive verbs, with a sense of 'to become (the base)'.

Inflection

These verbs are always intransitive, so there are no passive forms. They seemed to have originally lacked a past participle as well.

Conjugation of (weak class 4)
active voice passive voice
present tense indicative subjunctive imperative indicative subjunctive
1st singular *-nō *-naų
2nd singular *-nōsi *-nais *-nō
3rd singular *-nōþi *-nai *-nōþau
1st dual *-nōs *-naiw
2nd dual *-naþiz *-naiþiz *-naþiz
1st plural *-namaz *-naim
2nd plural *-naþ *-naiþ *-naþ
3rd plural *-nanþi *-nain *-nanþau
past tense indicative subjunctive
1st singular *-nōdǭ *-nōdēdį̄
2nd singular *-nōdēz *-nōdēdīz
3rd singular *-nōdē *-nōdēdī
1st dual *-nōdēdū *-nōdēdīw
2nd dual *-nōdēdudiz *-nōdēdīdiz
1st plural *-nōdēdum *-nōdēdīm
2nd plural *-nōdēdud *-nōdēdīd
3rd plural *-nōdēdun *-nōdēdīn
present past
participles *-nandz

Derived terms

Proto-Germanic class 4 weak verbs

Descendants

This suffix was preserved as a separate class only in Gothic. In Old High German, it mostly merged with the third weak class, while in the other descendants it merged with the second weak class.

  • Proto-West Germanic: *-nan
  • Old Norse: -na
    • Icelandic: -na
    • Faroese: -na
    • Norwegian:
      • Norwegian Nynorsk: -na
      • Norwegian Bokmål: -ne
    • Swedish: -na
    • Danish: -ne
  • Gothic: -𐌽𐌰𐌽 (-nan)

References

  1. ^ Ringe, Donald (2006) From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic (A Linguistic History of English; 1)‎[1], Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN