Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/maiz

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

    Related to *maizô (“more”); see there for cognates.[1]

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /mɑi̯z/

    Adverb

    *maiz (adjective *maizô, superlative *maist)

    1. more, to a greater degree

    Usage notes

    This word is not directly the comparative of any other term. Instead, various adverbial formations are used to express the positive degree.

    Derived terms

    Final *-z was regularly lost in monosyllables in the northern West Germanic languages, so that forms without final -r are found in these languages. However, it was generally restored later by analogy with the adjective *maizô, which had retained it.

    • Old English: mā, mǣ
      • Middle English: ma, mo
    • Old Frisian: mā, mē, mār, mēr
      • North Frisian: mor
      • Saterland Frisian: moor
      • West Frisian: mear
    • Old Saxon: mēr
      • Middle Low German: mêr
        • German Low German: mehr
    • Old Dutch: *mē, mēr
    • Old High German: mē, mēr
      • Middle High German: mē, mēr
        • German: mehr (< mēr)
        • Yiddish: מער (mer) (< mēr)
        • Luxembourgish: méi (< mē)
        • Central Franconian: mieh (< mē)
    • Old Norse: meir
    • Gothic: 𐌼𐌰𐌹𐍃 (mais)

    References

    1. ^ Vladimir Orel (2003), “*maiz”, in A Handbook of Germanic Etymology‎[1], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 257
    This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.