Reconstruction talk:Proto-West Germanic/aisku

@Rua, Mahagaja, Leasnam, Burgundaz: I wondering if this word is actually as a result of a conflation of *iskaną (“to desire, seek”) and *aikaną (“to claim”). --{{victar|talk}} 20:43, 25 August 2020 (UTC)

I don't know what the authorities say, but Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂eys- mentions a Proto-Balto-Slavic *aiˀskāˀtei, so I feel like the most likely explanation is that there was an exceptional full-grade *h₂eys-sḱéti alongside the expected zero-grade *h₂is-sḱéti, at least in the dialects ancestral to PBS and PGmc. Then there's Latin aeruscō; maybe aisku has a similar history, e.g. syncopated from a denominative aizasku or something. —Mahāgaja · talk 21:07, 25 August 2020 (UTC)

I should explain that my comments above actually apply to the verb *aiskōn rather than to this noun, but either way, I think an old full grade (for whatever reason) is more likely than conflation with an unrelated word, especially since there's no direct evidence for a zero-grade *iskaną in Germanic anyway. —Mahāgaja · talk 21:11, 25 August 2020 (UTC)

PBS **aiˀskāˀtei isn't really a thing. Lithuanian has a full grade noun, and a denominative verb from it, but the Slavic is zero-grade. Lipp thinks the East Baltic full-grade is actually a secondary prefix, and Smoczyński suggests *h₂eys‑ko‑s.

My larger point though was that the two Germanic words look as though they merged in meaning. None of the other *h₂eys- cognates have the definition "to claim", rendering the OHG synonyms eiscōn and eihhōn. --{{victar|talk}} 06:20, 26 August 2020 (UTC)