Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/berô

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

    Conventionally from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH-on-, from the root *bʰerH- (“brown”), as a tabooistic reference to the bear as "the brown one".[1] Ringe, doubting the existence of such a root, suggests instead *ǵʰwer- (“wild animal”); however, as Kroonen notes, this derivation depends on the sound change from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰw- > Proto-Germanic *b-, whose validity is disputed.[1] Blažek (2017) alternatively suggests a derivation from *bʰerH- (“to bore, pierce”), from which several IE terms for beehive are derived, e.g. Proto-Slavic *bъrtь (“hive of wild bees”).[2]

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /ˈbe.rɔːː/

    Noun

    *berô m

    1. bear

    Inflection

    Originally an n-stem with the zero grade forms of the suffix, as in *arô and Latin carō.

    Declension of *berô (consonant stem)
    singular plural
    nominative *berô *birniz
    vocative *berô *birniz
    accusative *bernų *bernunz
    genitive *birniz *bernǫ̂
    dative *birni *bernumaz
    instrumental *bernē *bernumiz

    Derived terms

    • *berǭ
      • Old Norse: bera
    • *bernuz
    • *bersǭ

    Descendants

    References

    1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Kroonen, Guus (2013) “*beran- 2”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11)‎[1], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 59-60
    2. ^ Blažek, Vaclav. (2017). Indo-European “bear”. Historical Linguistics. 130. 148-192. 10.13109/hisp.2017.130.1.148.
    This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.