Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/ga-
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Proto-West Germanic[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Proto-Germanic *ga-.
Prefix[edit]
*ga-[1]
- used as an intensifier for verbs, indicating completeness or perfectivity
- forms nouns or adjectives of association or similarity; co-
- forms nouns and verbs with the sense of "result" or "process"
- forms past participles or participle adjectives from verbs
Reconstruction notes[edit]
Because of its perfective sense, it eventually became used as a marker of the past participle in the West Germanic languages.
Derived terms[edit]
Descendants[edit]
- Old English: ġe-, gæ-; gi-; i-; ie-
- Old Frisian: ge-, gi-, je-, ie-, e-, i-, a-
- Old Saxon: gi-, i-, ge-, ga-
- Old Dutch: gi-, ge-
- Old High German: gi-, ga-, ki-, ka-
References[edit]
- ^ Ringe, Donald, Taylor, Ann (2014) The Development of Old English (A Linguistic History of English; 2), Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 206: “PWGmc. *ga-”