Reconstruction talk:Proto-Germanic/gaminþiją

Collective

This formation seems to be a collective, considering the Gothic form, it should probably properly be *gaminþiją, as *ga- is usually lost in Norse. Would anyone object to me moving it?

Also, this form suggests a t-stem(to-, ti-, or tu-) to *men-, yes? Anglom (talk) 15:48, 10 September 2014 (UTC)

I think the underlying form would be *minþiz, as it would make sense together with *mundiz for the two to have split from the proterokinetic PIE *méntis, *mn̥téys. Anglom (talk) 16:17, 10 September 2014 (UTC)

But ON minni is a ja-stem, and can't derive from anything else. There may also be a connection to Ofs minne, OSx minnia, ODt minna (Dutch min), OHG minna (German Minne) < PG *minjō. —CodeCat 18:26, 10 September 2014 (UTC)

I meant that the collective ja-stem was derived from what was originally *minþiz (“thought”), giving *gaminþiją (“thoughts, thinking, memory”). There seem to be a few neuter collectives in Germanic formed with the affixes *ga- + *-(i)ją, cf. *gasmīþiją (“jewelry”), *gawurdiją (“speech, conversation”), *garūniją (“mystery, secret, counsel”). I think this word might also be an example. Anglom (talk) 18:54, 10 September 2014 (UTC)

I suppose it's plausible, but a bit too speculative without more evidence. Also, that formation is still productive in Dutch, although Dutch no longer has a distinct ja-stem declension. —CodeCat 19:12, 10 September 2014 (UTC)