Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/-ē

From a conflation of two older dative singular suffixes:

• In a-stems, from Proto-Germanic *-ai, from Proto-Indo-European *-oey or *-oy, from *-os (a-stem suffix) +‎ *-ey (dative singular suffix) or *-i (locative singular suffix).
• In ō-stems, from Proto-Germanic *-ōi, from Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂ey, from *-eh₂ (eh₂-stem suffix) +‎ *-ey (dative singular suffix).

*-ē

1. Forms the dative singulars of a-stem and ō-stem nouns.

   ‎*stain(a) (“stone”) + ‎-ē → ‎*stainē (“to the stone”)

• 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)