Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #ProtoGermanic

Most recents (3)

#ADDER in #IndoEuropean: #Latin natrix, gen. sg. natrĭcis f. ‘water snake’, #OldIrish nathair, gen. sg. nathrach, #Welsh neidr, pl. nadredd, #OldCornish nader ‘snake’, #OldBreton natrolion pl. ‘basilisks’, #MiddleBreton nazr, azr, #ModernBreton naer ‘snake’, …
1/14 https://commons.wikimedia.o...
#ProtoGermanic *nadraz m. (#Gothic nadrs, #OldNorse naðr, #Icelandic naður), *nēdrōn- f. (#OldEnglish nǣdre, #OldHighGerman nātara, #WestFrisian njirre), *nadrōn- f. (#MiddleEnglish nadder, adder, #OldNorse naðra, #MiddleDutch nadre, adre, #Dutch adder, #German Natter, Otter)
2 https://commons.wikimedia.o...
What do an adder, an apron, and an orange have in common?

If it weren’t for the phenomenon of “rebracketing”, they would all three still be known as nadder, napron (cf. #French napperon), and norange (cf. #Spanish naranja).
3/14
Read 14 tweets
OX in #IndoEuropean: #Vedic ukṣā́, #Avestan uxšā, #ProtoGermanic *uhsô (#Gothic auhsa, #Old Norse oxi, #OldEnglish oxa, #OldHighGerman ohso, #German Ochse, #Durch os), #Welsh ych, #OldIrish oss, #Tocharian B okso, A pl. opsi.
1/16
This word, my friends, is so fascinating that one could write a whole PhD thesis about it (trust me, I know). The immediate reconstruction for all items in 1/ is a masculine n-stem with a nom. sg. *hₓuksō(n). For such a stem we would expect a nom. pl. *hₓuksō̆nes.
2/16
However, just as all languages point to or are consistent with an “amphikinetic” nom. sg. *hₓuksō(n), the evidence of three separate and independent branches unequivocally supports reconstructing a “hysterokinetic” nom. pl. *hₓuksénes.
3/16
Read 16 tweets
#Hydronomastics is the study of #hydronyms, the proper names of bodies of water.

It's a branch of #toponomastics, the study of #toponyms (the proper names of places), which in turn is a branch of #onomastics, the study of #orthonyms (proper names).

French / Luxembourghish sign: The River Sauer in Martelan...
#Hydronym and #hydronomastics both derive from Ancient #Greek ὕδωρ / húdōr (water) + ὄνομα / ónoma (name). The Greek island of Skiatho...
#Hydronyms tend to outlast other #toponyms, even when new #languages and cultures displace earlier ones.

#England, #EastAnglia, #Essex, and #Sussex are named for the #Angles and #Saxons; but #Trent, #Ouse, #Thames, #Severn, and #Avon are older #Celtic and #RomanoBritish names. A map showing the main rive...
Read 173 tweets

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