Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/aspō

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.

From an apparent Proto-Indo-European *Hosp- (“aspen, poplar”), though the distribution is limited to northern languages spoken in regions where the tree inhabits. Indo-European cognates include Welsh aethnen, Latvian apse, Lithuanian ēpušė (dialectal ãpušė), Old Prussian abse and Proto-Slavic *opsa (along with its suffixed variants *osìna and Southern *esìka), all meaning “aspen”.

*aspō f

1. aspen

• Proto-West Germanic: *aspu
  • Old English: æspe, æsp, æps
    • Middle English: aspe; aspen
      • English: asp; aspen
  • Old Saxon: *aspa
    • Middle Low German: aspe, espe, hespe
      • Low German: Äsp
  • Old Dutch: *aspa, *espa
    • Middle Dutch: espe
      • Dutch: esp
  • Old High German: aspa
    • Middle High German: aspe
      • German: Espe
• Old Norse: ǫsp
  • Icelandic: ösp
  • Faroese: øsp
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: osp; (dialectal) øsp
  • Norwegian Bokmål: osp
  • Swedish: asp
  • Danish: asp
    • Norwegian Bokmål: asp
• →? Proto-Finnic: *haapa (metathesized from *šapa?) (see there for further descendants)

• Mallory, J. P., Adams, D. Q., editors (1997), “Aspen, poplar”, in Encyclopedia of Indo-European culture, London, Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, page 33