Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/-iwi

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 1

Inherited from Proto-Germanic *-iwi, from late Proto-Indo-European *-ewi, from *-us (u-stem suffix) +‎ *-i (locative singular suffix).

Suffix

*-iwi

Forms the dative singular of u-stem nouns.
‎*sunu (“son”) + ‎-iwi → ‎*suniwi (“to the son”)

Synonym: *-ō

Descendants

Old Saxon: -i, -e, -ie
Old Dutch: -i
- Middle Dutch: -e
  - Dutch: -e (archaic or fossilized)
Old High German: -iu, -i, -e
- Middle High German: -e
  - German: -e (archaic or fossilized)

References

Braune, Wilhelm (2004), Ingo von Reifenstein, editor, Althochdeutsche Grammatik (Sammlung Kurzer Grammatiken Germanisches Dialekte; 5), 15th edition, volume I: Laut- und Formenlehre, Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag, →DOI, →ISBN, § 220c, pages 205-206.
Fulk, R[obert] D. (September 2018), “Nouns”, in A Comparative Grammar of the Early Germanic Languages (Studies in Germanic Linguistics; 3)‎^[1], Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →DOI, →ISBN, →LCCN, § 7.24, page 164.
Ringe, Donald; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English (A Linguistic History of English; 2), Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, pages 57-58

Etymology 2

Inherited from Proto-Germanic *-iwiz, from Proto-Indo-European *-ewes, from *-us (u-stem suffix) +‎ *-es (nominative plural suffix).

Suffix

*-iwi

Forms the nominative plural of masculine and feminine u-stem nouns.
‎*sunu (“son”) + ‎-iwi → ‎*suniwi (“sons”)

Synonym: *-ō (Anglo-Frisian)

Descendants

>? Old Saxon: -i (possibly from the i-stems)
- Middle Low German: -e
>? Old Dutch: -i (possibly from the i-stems)
- Middle Dutch: -e
>? Old High German: -i, -e (possibly from the i-stems)
- Middle High German: -e
  - German: -e