Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/kaf

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

Uncertain. Perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *ǵep-, *ǵebʰ- (“jaw, mouth; to eat, chew, devour”).

Noun

*kaf n

1. chaff

Inflection

Neuter a-stem
	Singular
Nominative	*kaf
Genitive	*kafas
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	*kaf	*kafu
Accusative	*kaf	*kafu
Genitive	*kafas	*kafō
Dative	*kafē	*kafum
Instrumental	*kafu	*kafum

Related terms

• *kefu

Descendants

• Old English: ċeaf, ċef, *cæf — unattested, but descendants found in Middle English
  • Middle English: chaf, caf, caff, caffe, chaff, chaffe, chef, kaf, kaff, schaf
    • English: chaff
    • Scots: caff
    • → Irish: cabha
• Old Frisian: *tzef
  • East Frisian:

    Harlingerland Frisian: schieff, scheff

    Saterland Frisian: Sääf

    Wangerooge Frisian: sjëf

  • West Frisian: tsjêf

    Gaasterland: sjêf

    Eastern Terschelling: tsjêb

• Old Saxon: kaf
  • Middle Low German: kaf
    • German Low German: Kaff
      • → North Frisian:

        Föhr-Amrum: kaf

        Sylt: Kaf

• Old Dutch: *caf
  • Middle Dutch: caf
    • Dutch: kaf
      • Afrikaans: kaf
      • → West Frisian: kaf
• Old High German: kaf
  • Middle High German: kaf
    • German: Kaff
    • Luxembourgish: Kuef

References

• Norbruis, Stefan (2015) “tsjêf”, in Etymological Dictionary of West Frisian Farming Vocabulary‎^[1], Leiden: Leiden University, page 42.