Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/berkō

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

From Proto-Indo-European *bʰerHǵos. Cognate with Sanskrit भूर्ज (bhūrjá, “a species of birch”), Proto-Slavic *berza (“birch”).

Noun

*berkō f

1. birch
2. (Runic alphabet) name of the rune ᛒ (b)

Inflection

ō-stemDeclension of *berkō (ō-stem)
	singular	plural
nominative	*berkō	*berkôz
vocative	*berkō	*berkôz
accusative	*berkǭ	*berkōz
genitive	*berkōz	*berkǫ̂
dative	*berkōi	*berkōmaz
instrumental	*berkō	*berkōmiz

Derived terms

• *birkijǭ

Descendants

• Proto-West Germanic: *berku
  • Old English: beorc
  • Old Dutch: *berka
    • Middle Dutch: berke
      • Dutch: berk
        • Afrikaans: berk
  • Old High German: birka, biricha
    • Middle High German: birke, birche
      • German: Birke
• Old Norse: bjǫrk
  • Icelandic: björk
  • Faroese: bjørk
  • Norwegian: bjørk; (dialectal) bjerk (< bjarkar), børk
    • → Danish: bjørk, bjerk
      • Norwegian Bokmål: bjørk, bjerk
  • Elfdalian: byörk
  • Old Swedish: biork
    • Swedish: björk
  • Old Danish: birk, *biork
    • Danish: birk
  • Gutnish: bjärk
  • Scanian: birk