Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/-ai

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

Two main etymologies have been suggested:

From Proto-Indo-European *-oy (o-stem dative singular), from *-os (o-stem suffix) +‎ *-i (locative singular suffix), paralleling the derivation of other dative singulars from PIE locatives; furthermore, Ringe suggests that *-oey would become **-ōi.^[1]
From Proto-Indo-European *-oey (o-stem locative singular), from *-os (o-stem suffix) +‎ *-ey (dative singular suffix), allowing the early Old English instrumental singular fācni (“using a torch”) to be explained as an Proto-Indo-European locative singular *-ey without awkwardly positing that one form of the locative became a dative and another an instrumental.^[2]

Suffix

*-ai

Forms the dative singulars of a-stem nouns.
‎*stainaz (“stone”) + ‎*-ai → ‎*stainai (“to the stone”)

Descendants

Proto-West Germanic: *-ē
- Old English: -e (early -æ)
  - Middle English: -e
- Old Frisian: -e
- Old Saxon: -e
  - Middle Low German: -e
    - German Low German: -e
- Old Dutch: -e
  - Middle Dutch: -e
    - Dutch: -e (archaic or fossilized)
- Old High German: -e
  - Middle High German: -e
    - Bavarian:
      Cimbrian: -e
    - German: -e (archaic or fossilized)
    - East Central German: -e
    - Rhine Franconian:
      Hessian: -e (Northern)
Proto-Norse: -ᛖ (-ē)
- Old Norse: -i
  - Icelandic: -i
  - Faroese: -i
  - Middle Norwegian: -i, -e
  - Elfdalian: -i
  - Old Swedish: -i, -e
    - Swedish: -e (obsolete)
  - Old Danish: -æ, -e
Gothic: -𐌰 (-a)

References

^ Ringe, Donald (2006), From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic (A Linguistic History of English; 1)‎^[1], Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 200
^ Fulk, R[obert] D. (September 2018), chapter 7.8, in A Comparative Grammar of the Early Germanic Languages (Studies in Germanic Linguistics; 3)‎^[2], Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →DOI, →ISBN, →LCCN, § 147.

[1] Ringe, Donald (2006), From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic (A Linguistic History of English; 1)‎^[1], Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 200

[2] Fulk, R[obert] D. (September 2018), chapter 7.8, in A Comparative Grammar of the Early Germanic Languages (Studies in Germanic Linguistics; 3)‎^[2], Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →DOI, →ISBN, →LCCN, § 147.

[1]

[2]