Reconstruction talk:Proto-Germanic/sunuz
The vocative of sunuz (and other u-stems)
[edit]I note that in Gothic there are two forms of the vocative, apparently in free variation:
sunau Daweidis, armai mik! (Luke 18:39, Mark 10:47-48)
Iesu, sunu Daweidis, armai mik! (Luke 18:38)
This was observed in Fulk 2018:83.
It appears that the -au form is the inherited vocative:
- suHnów > *sūnóu > *sunou > *sunau (> Gothic sunau)
The vocative ending in -u would then appear to be analogical, based on the i-stems (such as *gasti).
Given the evidence of the examples above, the u-stem vocative in -au survived in PGmc long enough to become common in Gothic.
This also raises the question of when the analogical vocative in -u originated, whether in PGmc or simply in Gothic.
In any case, may I suggest an amendment to the PGmc u-stem declension template to reflect the inherited vocative in -au. 2001:8003:3417:5F00:D419:8CA4:652A:5825 05:32, 13 September 2023 (UTC)