Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/maltą

This Proto-Germanic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Germanic

Etymology

Uncertain, from *maltaz (“soft, gone bad”), or directly from *meltaną; ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *meld- (“to beat, crush, grind”), also the root of *mildijaz. Not few voices (Uhlenbeck, Bernecker, Brückner, Kiparsky, Skok and others) deem the word instead regularly formed in Proto-Slavic *molto, which you may see, from *melti (“to grind”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɑl.tɑ̃/

Noun

*maltą n

1. malt

Inflection

neuter a-stemDeclension of *maltą (neuter a-stem)
	singular	plural
nominative	*maltą	*maltō
vocative	*maltą	*maltō
accusative	*maltą	*maltō
genitive	*maltas, *maltis	*maltǫ̂
dative	*maltai	*maltamaz
instrumental	*maltō	*maltamiz

Alternative reconstructions

• *maltaz

Related terms

• *maltijaną
• *meltaną
• *multōną

Descendants

• Proto-West Germanic: *malt
  • Old English: mealt, malt
    • Middle English: malt, malte, maltt, mault, maulte
      • English: malt
      • Scots: maut
      • Yola: mault
  • Old Frisian: malt
    • Saterland Frisian: Moalt
  • Old Saxon: malt
    • Middle Low German: malt, molt
      • German Low German: Molt
  • Old Dutch: malt
    • Middle Dutch: malt, mout
      • Dutch: mout
        • → West Frisian: mout
  • Old High German: malz
    • Middle High German: malz
      • German: Malz
      • Luxembourgish: Malz
  • → Proto-Slavic: *molto (see there for further descendants)
• Old Norse: malt
  • Icelandic: malt
  • Faroese: malt
  • Norwegian: malt
  • Old Swedish: malt
    • Swedish: malt
  • Old Danish: malt
    • Danish: malt
  • Gutnish: malt
• → Proto-Finnic: *maldas (see there for further descendants) (< *maltaz)