Reconstruction talk:Proto-Germanic/stadiz

Latest comment: 3 years ago by Burgundaz in topic Masculine formation

Masculine formation

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While it could just be the case that the gender shifted from feminine to masculine in Old Norse and Gothic, it is also possible that it actually represents a functional zero-grade i-stem derivation from *standaną, whose "zero-grade" stem is *stad-, compare this verb's secondary ti-stem *stassiz < *stad-s-tis. Perhaps the two forms were confused and merged in some of the daughter languages.

Vaguely similar, we see that originally masculine *wurdiz < *werþaną was probably reinterpreted as a feminine ti-stem, although an actual ti-stem would have been **wursiz. Anglom (talk) 18:27, 9 January 2018 (UTC)Reply

Clarification

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A little more clearly, these are two words with very similar meanings which were inevitably merged into one form or another: original feminine ti-stem *stadiz < *sth̥₂-tís, and masculine zero-grade i-stem *stadiz < *sth̥₂t-ís.

The first needs no explanation but the latter is derived specifically within Germanic from *standaną, whose preterite *stōþ, *stōdun is secondarily regularized from original aorist *stōþ, *stadun. From this earlier point, Germanic derived masculine *stadiz as an oxytonic masculine zero-grade i-stem, a class productive in Germanic for deriving "τομός"-type action nouns. Compare:

  • *bitiz, "biting" < *bītaną, "to bite" (OS mūthbiti)
  • *bruniz, "burning" < *brinnaną, "to burn" (OE bryne)
  • *bugiz, "bending" < *beuganą, "to bend" (OE frambyġe)
  • *kumiz, "coming, arrival" < *kumaną, "to come" (OE cyme)
  • *stigiz, "climbing, ascension", < *stīganą, "to ascend" (OE stiġe, ON -stigr)

And specifically to show this formations earlier oxytonicity:

  • *kuziz, "choosing, choice" < *keusaną, "to choose" (OE cyre)
  • *kwidiz, "saying, speaking" < *kweþaną, "to speak" (OE cwide)
  • *slagiz, "hitting, striking" < *slahaną, "to strike, hit" (OE sleġe)
  • *sudiz, "seething" > "decoction" < *seuþaną, "to seethe, boil" (OE syde)
  • *wurdiz, "becoming" > "fate" < *werþaną, "to become" (OE wyrde) (secondarily femininized, either after Norn Urðr < *Wurdiz, or simply reanalyzed as a functionable ti-stem)

If these words had any difference in semantics, the diachronically older feminine *stadiz, would have meant more abstract "place, location", and the younger masculine would have more concretely meant "standing, position", but there are only possible traces of a distinction between feminine and masculine forms in Old Saxon that I've found in Koebler, and no real difference in meaning. Burgundaz (talk) 06:29, 22 February 2021 (UTC)Reply

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