Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/gant

This Proto-West 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-West Germanic

Etymology

Unknown. Possibly from a Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰen- (“to flourish, be full, swell, abound”), and cognate with Lithuanian ganė́ti (“to be enough, be sufficient, suffice”), nẽgandas (“dissatisfaction”), Old Lithuanian gandžiaus (“rather”), Sanskrit घन (ghaná, “compact, solid, dense”),^[1] Persian (âganj, “full, complete”), Persian (âgandan, “to fill up”). However, Kroonen appears to be implicitly skeptical, due to the word being originally attested only in High German (with other cognates being borrowings from High German), and prefers to relate the word to a Proto-Germanic *gintaną (“to be startled”) (whose only descendant is dialectal Swiss German erginzen (“to cringe, shiver”)), with semantic shift "to be startled" > "to shiver" > "terribly" > "very much" > "whole, complete".^[2] The latter root apparently stems from a Proto-Indo-European *gʰend- (“to startle”), whence Lithuanian gą̃stas (“a scare”), Latvian gañdinât (“to scare”).^[3]

Adjective

*gant

whole, healthy
all, complete

Inflection

a-stem
Singular	Masculine
Nominative	*gant
Genitive	*gantas
Singular	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	*gant	*gantu	*gant
Accusative	*gantanā	*gantā	*gant
Genitive	*gantas	*ganteʀā	*gantas
Dative	*gantumē	*ganteʀē	*gantumē
Instrumental	*gantu	*ganteʀu	*gantu
Plural	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	*gantē	*gantō	*gantu
Accusative	*gantā	*gantā	*gantu
Genitive	*ganteʀō	*ganteʀō	*ganteʀō
Dative	gantēm, gantum	gantēm, gantum	gantēm, gantum
Instrumental	gantēm, gantum	gantēm, gantum	gantēm, gantum

Derived terms

*gantēn
*gantī
*gantiþu
- Old High German: ganzida
*gantijan

Descendants

Old High German: ganz
- Middle High German: ganz
  - Alemannic German: ganza, geng, génh, ganz
  - Bavarian: gånz
  - Cimbrian: gantz, gåntz (Luserna)
  - German: ganz
  - Luxembourgish: ganz
- → Middle Dutch: gands, gants, gansch
  - Dutch: gans
    - Afrikaans: gans
- → Middle Low German: ganz, gans
  - German Low German: ganz
  - → Danish: ganske
    - Norwegian Bokmål: ganske
      - → Norwegian Nynorsk: ganske
    - → Scots: ganska
  - → Swedish: ganska
  - → Norwegian: ganskje, ganske
    - Norwegian Nynorsk: ganskje
- → Old Frisian: gans
  - Saterland Frisian: gans
  - West Frisian: gâns, gânsk

References

^ Vladimir Orel (2003) “*ʒantaz”, in A Handbook of Germanic Etymology‎^[1], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 126
^ Kroonen, Guus (2013) “*ganta-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11)‎^[2], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 168
^ Kroonen, Guus (2013) “*gintan-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11)‎^[3], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 178

[1] Vladimir Orel (2003) “*ʒantaz”, in A Handbook of Germanic Etymology‎^[1], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 126

[2] Kroonen, Guus (2013) “*ganta-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11)‎^[2], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 168

[3] Kroonen, Guus (2013) “*gintan-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11)‎^[3], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 178

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