Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/ga-

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

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Etymology

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    From Proto-Germanic *ga-.

    Prefix

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    *ga-[1]

    1. used as an intensifier for verbs, indicating completeness or perfectivity
    2. forms nouns or adjectives of association or similarity; co-
    3. forms nouns and verbs with the sense of "result" or "process"
    4. forms past participles or participle adjectives from verbs

    Reconstruction notes

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    Because of its perfective sense, it eventually became used as a marker of the past participle in the West Germanic languages.

    Derived terms

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    Descendants

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    References

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    1. ^ Ringe, Donald, Taylor, Ann (2014) The Development of Old English (A Linguistic History of English; 2), Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 206:PWGmc. *ga-