Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/hwī

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

Alternative forms

• *hwē
• *hwō

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /xʷiː/

Pronoun

1. how, with what, by what means; instrumental of *hwaz

Descendants

• Old English: hwȳ, hwī
  • Middle English: why
    • Scots: why
    • English: why
• Old Dutch: wī
  • Middle Dutch: wij
    • ⇒ Middle Dutch: winne/ wijne (wij + ne ), twi (tot + wij)
• Old High German: hwē (from the variant *hwē)
  • (Middle High German: wie) (chiefly from OHG hwēo < *hwaiwa)
    • (Cimbrian: bia)
    • (German: wie)
    • (Yiddish: ווי (vi))
• Old Norse: hví
  • Icelandic: hví
  • Faroese: hví
  • Norwegian:
    • Norwegian Bokmål: hvi
    • Norwegian Nynorsk: kvi
      • ⇒ Norwegian Nynorsk: kvifor
  • Swedish: vi
  • Danish: hvi
• Gothic: 𐍈𐌴 (ƕē) (from the variant *hwē)