Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/-aną

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

From Proto-Indo-European *-onom, from *-o- (thematic vowel) + *-nom (verbal noun suffix). The few remaining athematic verbs (which were irregular in Proto-Germanic) accordingly used only *-ną. Cognate with Sanskrit -अन (-ana).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑ.nɑ̃/

Verb

*-aną

1. The infinitive suffix of strong verbs.

Usage notes

This suffix was not productive in Proto-Germanic.

Inflection

Strong verbs consist of four principal parts: the present stem (1), the past singular stem (2), the general past stem (3) and the past participle (4). The seven classes of strong verb differ only in how their principal parts are formed.

Conjugation of *1-aną (strong)

	active voice			passive voice
present tense	indicative	subjunctive	imperative	indicative	subjunctive
1st singular	*1-ō	*1-aų	—	*1-ai	?
2nd singular	*1-izi	*1-aiz	*1-	*1-azai	*1-aizau
3rd singular	*1-idi	*1-ai	*1-adau	*1-adai	*1-aidau
1st dual	*1-ōz	*1-aiw	—	—	—
2nd dual	*1-adiz	*1-aidiz	*1-adiz	—	—
1st plural	*1-amaz	*1-aim	—	*1-andai	*1-aindau
2nd plural	*1-id	*1-aid	*1-id	*1-andai	*1-aindau
3rd plural	*1-andi	*1-ain	*1-andau	*1-andai	*1-aindau
past tense	indicative	subjunctive
1st singular	*2-	*3-į̄
2nd singular	*2-t	*3-īz
3rd singular	*2-	*3-ī
1st dual	*3-ū	*3-īw
2nd dual	*3-udiz	*3-īdiz
1st plural	*3-um	*3-īm
2nd plural	*3-ud	*3-īd
3rd plural	*3-un	*3-īn
	present	past
participles	*1-andz	*4-anaz

Derived terms

Proto-Germanic strong verbs

Descendants

• Old English: -an
  • Middle English: -en, -e
    • English: (obsolete) -en, -e
• Old Frisian: -a
  • North Frisian: -e
  • Saterland Frisian: -e
  • West Frisian: -e
• Old Saxon: -an
  • Middle Low German: -en
    • Low German: -en
• Old Dutch: -an
  • Middle Dutch: -en (merged with all other verbs)
    • Dutch: -en
• Old High German: -an
  • Middle High German: -en
    • German: -en (merged with all other verbs)
• Old Norse: -a
  • Icelandic: -a
  • Faroese: -a
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: -a
  • Swedish: -a
  • Danish: -e
    • Norwegian Bokmål: -e
• Gothic: -𐌰𐌽 (-an)

References

• Fulk, R.D. (2018). A Comparative Grammar of the Early Germanic Languages. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, pp. 252–253; 284–285.