Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/wōpijaną

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 *weh₂b- (“to call, shout, complain”). Cognate with Proto-Slavic *vabiti (“to lure”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈwɔː.pi.jɑ.nɑ̃/

Verb

*wōpijaną

to cry out, to lament

Inflection

The evolution of this verb's conjugation is unusual and controversial. Unlike usual expectations, it is weak in Gothic and strong class 7 with a reduplicated preterite in Old English. Orel and Ringe disagree on how this situation arose.

Orel believes that there were two separate, but related homophonous verbs in Proto-Germanic, with the weak verb being the *-janą derivative of the strong one.^[1]
Ringe believes that independently, Old Norse and Gothic made the strong verb weak due to analogy.^[2]
Kroonen makes no comment about this verb's paradigm, and in fact the verb is not mentioned at all in his Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic.

Conjugation of *wōpijaną (strong class 7 j-present)

present tense	indicative	subjunctive	imperative	indicative	subjunctive
	active voice			passive voice
1st singular	*wōpijō	*wōpijaų	—	*wōpijai	?
2nd singular	*wōpīsi	*wōpijais	*wōpī	*wōpijasai	*wōpijaisau
3rd singular	*wōpīþi	*wōpijai	*wōpijaþau	*wōpijaþai	*wōpijaiþau
1st dual	*wōpijōs	*wōpijaiw	—	—	—
2nd dual	*wōpijaþiz	*wōpijaiþiz	*wōpijaþiz	—	—
1st plural	*wōpijamaz	*wōpijaim	—	*wōpijanþai	*wōpijainþau
2nd plural	*wōpīþ	*wōpijaiþ	*wōpīþ	*wōpijanþai	*wōpijainþau
3rd plural	*wōpijanþi	*wōpijain	*wōpijanþau	*wōpijanþai	*wōpijainþau

past tense	indicative	subjunctive
1st singular	*wewōp	*wewōpį̄
2nd singular	*wewōft	*wewōpīz
3rd singular	*wewōp	*wewōpī
1st dual	*wewōpū	*wewōpīw
2nd dual	*wewōpudiz	*wewōpīdiz
1st plural	*wewōpum	*wewōpīm
2nd plural	*wewōpud	*wewōpīd
3rd plural	*wewōpun	*wewōpīn

	present	past
participles	*wōpijandz	*wōpanaz

Conjugation of *wōpijaną (weak class 1)

present tense	indicative	subjunctive	imperative	indicative	subjunctive
	active voice			passive voice
1st singular	*wōpijō	*wōpijaų	—	*wōpijai	?
2nd singular	*wōpīsi	*wōpijais	*wōpī	*wōpijasai	*wōpijaisau
3rd singular	*wōpīþi	*wōpijai	*wōpijaþau	*wōpijaþai	*wōpijaiþau
1st dual	*wōpijōs	*wōpijaiw	—	—	—
2nd dual	*wōpijaþiz	*wōpijaiþiz	*wōpijaþiz	—	—
1st plural	*wōpijamaz	*wōpijaim	—	*wōpijanþai	*wōpijainþau
2nd plural	*wōpīþ	*wōpijaiþ	*wōpīþ	*wōpijanþai	*wōpijainþau
3rd plural	*wōpijanþi	*wōpijain	*wōpijanþau	*wōpijanþai	*wōpijainþau

past tense	indicative	subjunctive
1st singular	*wōpidǭ	*wōpidēdį̄
2nd singular	*wōpidēz	*wōpidēdīz
3rd singular	*wōpidē	*wōpidēdī
1st dual	*wōpidēdū	*wōpidēdīw
2nd dual	*wōpidēdudiz	*wōpidēdīdiz
1st plural	*wōpidēdum	*wōpidēdīm
2nd plural	*wōpidēdud	*wōpidēdīd
3rd plural	*wōpidēdun	*wōpidēdīn

	present	past
participles	*wōpijandz	*wōpidaz

Related terms

*wōpaz

Descendants

Proto-West Germanic: *wōpijan
- Old English: wēpan
  - Middle English: wepen
    - Scots: wep, wepe, weip
    - English: weep
- Old Frisian: wēpa
  - Saterland Frisian: wapia
- Old Saxon: wōpian
  - Middle Low German: wōpen
- Old Dutch: wuopan
- Old High German: wuofan, wuoffan, wuofen
  - Middle High German: wuofen, wüefen
Old Norse: ǿpa, œpa
- Icelandic: æpa
- Faroese: øpa, epa
- Norwegian Bokmål: øpe
- Old Swedish: ø̄pa
- Old Danish: ø̄pæ
Gothic: 𐍅𐍉𐍀𐌾𐌰𐌽 (wōpjan)

References

^ Orel, Vladimir (2003) “*wōpjanan”, in A Handbook of Germanic Etymology‎^[1], Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 470
^ Ringe, Donald (2006) From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic (A Linguistic History of English; 1)‎^[2], Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 250: “wōp-, wewōp-” "It is true that this verb is strong only in [West Germanic] (where it often means ‘weep’); both Goth[ic] wopjan ‘call’ and [Old Norse] œpa ‘cry out’ are class I weak verbs. However, since transfer of a j-present into the first weak class is surely an easily repeatable change, it seems reasonable to reconstruct this as a strong verb for [Proto-Germanic]."

[1] Orel, Vladimir (2003) “*wōpjanan”, in A Handbook of Germanic Etymology‎^[1], Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 470

[2] Ringe, Donald (2006) From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic (A Linguistic History of English; 1)‎^[2], Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 250: “wōp-, wewōp-” "It is true that this verb is strong only in [West Germanic] (where it often means ‘weep’); both Goth[ic] wopjan ‘call’ and [Old Norse] œpa ‘cry out’ are class I weak verbs. However, since transfer of a j-present into the first weak class is surely an easily repeatable change, it seems reasonable to reconstruct this as a strong verb for [Proto-Germanic]."

[1]

[2]