Reconstruction talk:Proto-Germanic/gagin

Etymology

I've been thinking about this word a lot lately, and considering the mechanics and semantics required for reconstruction here's what I've been able to come up with:

• Reduplicated, or rather self-prefixed *ḱo-ḱóm; the semantics work best here, as especially in Greek this root had developed a meaning of "against, contrary to". However there is no guarantee this would give **gagan over **gagą, as word-final nasals only seem to be preserved in monosyllables. We would then need to reconstruct *ḱo-ḱóm-t > *ḱo-ḱón-d to keep this theory plausible.
• Part of a small group of words that take the o-grade and attach a bare nasal thematic suffix *(V́)-n-om:
  • *barną < *bʰór-n-om
  • *baukną < *bʰówg-n-om
  • *bragną < *mrógʰ-n-om
  • *garną < *ǵʰór-n-om
  • *laihną < *lóykʷ-n-om
  • *launą < *lówh₂-n-om
  • *rahną < *Hrók-n-nom
  • *taikną < *doyḱ(ḱ)-n-om (formed from a causative-iterative *taik/gōną)
  • *wēpną (Germanic-internal secondary o-grade)
    • (the latter two demonstrating that this formation was still mildly productive in late Germanic)

• This allows us to reconstruct an early form *gangną which could very reasonably have undergone dissimilation to either *gagną or *gangą. As the former is more marked, we could assume this was the prevailing form, and allows us to to understand the semantics associated with this word, "going; straight; against". We could assume then, that this word saw use in case forms, as well as the later productive allative or "dynamic" suffix *-i: accusative *gagną, dative *gagnai, instrumental *gagnō, as well as the aforementioned *gagni. Burgundaz (talk) 07:11, 21 December 2020 (UTC)