Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/-astrijā

This Proto-West 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-West Germanic

Etymology

Uncertain; multiple origins have been suggested, but none has received widespread approval.[1]

  • Despite the similarity of the suffix to Vulgar Latin -istria, borrowing from it is now usually rejected because of the large number of Old English formations where this suffix is applied to native roots.
  • Davis and Bammesberger derive it from earlier -astrī (a neuter ja-stem; they see this form surviving in relics such as Old English eowestre) suffixed with *-jā, from Proto-Germanic *-astriją, itself a suffixation of *-istrą, *-astrą with *-ją.[2][3]
  • Gąsiorowski instead considers this suffix to be an extension of earlier *-astri (an ī/jō-stem), with replacement of the unproductive ī/jō-stem endings with more common ōn-stem endings. He suggests that *-astri originates from Proto-Indo-European *-sr-ih₂, a zero-grade form of *-sōr suffixed with *-ih₂; he also suggests a relation to Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz (see *-ārī).[4]

Suffix

*-astrijā f

  1. -ress: Forms feminine agent nouns from verbs.
    Coordinate term: *-ārī

Inflection

ōn-stem
Singular
Nominative *-astrijā
Genitive *-astrijōn
Singular Plural
Nominative *-astrijā *-astrijōn
Accusative *-astrijōn *-astrijōn
Genitive *-astrijōn *-astrijōnō
Dative *-astrijōn *-astrijōm, *-astrijum
Instrumental *-astrijōn *-astrijōm, *-astrijum

Alternative reconstructions

Descendants

  • Old English: -estre, -istræ, -istre, -ystre
  • Old Frisian: -estre, -stere, -ster
  • Old Saxon: *-istra
    • Middle Low German: -ester, -ster
      • ⇒ Middle Low German: -esterinne, -sterinne
      • ⇒ Middle Low German: -esterische, -sterische, -stersche, -etersche
  • Old Dutch: *-istra
  • >? Old High German: *-astria
    • ⇒ Old High German: wagastria

References

  1. ^ Peterson, Paul (1 January 2013), “An Old Problem in Etymology Revisited: The Origin of Germanic Nouns with the Suffix -ster”, in Amsterdamer Beiträge zur älteren Germanistik, volume 70, number 1, →DOI, pages 1–19
  2. ^ Bammesberger, Alfred (1 September 2003), “The Provenance of the Old English Suffix -estre”, in North-Western European Language Evolution (NOWELE), volume 43, John Benjamins Publishing Company, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, pages 53-63.
  3. ^ Davis, Garry W. (July 1992), “OE-estre and PGmc. *-ārjaz: The origin and development of two agentive suffixes in Germanic”, in Journal of Germanic Linguistics, volume 4, number 2, →DOI, pages 103–116
  4. ^ Gąsiorowski, Piotr (10 November 2017), “Cherchez la femme: Two Germanic suffixes, one etymology”, in Folia Linguistica Historica, volume 51, number s38, De Gruyter Mouton, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, pages 125-147.
  5. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “-ster”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
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