Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/hnīwaną

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

Alternative forms

• *hnīgwaną (early form)
• *hnīganą (Northwest dialectal)

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *kneygʷʰ- (“to bend, to droop”). Perhaps cognate with Latin coniveo (“to close up the eyes; to connive, turn a blind eye”) due to matching phonetics, but the semantic gap is wide.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈxniː.wɑ.nɑ̃/

Verb

*hnīwaną

1. to bow

Inflection

Note: The original stem-final consonant gw becomes w, but g next to u.

Related terms

• *hnaigwijaną/*hnaiwijaną
• *hnigwijaną/*hniwjaną
• *hnigōną/*hniwōną (?)

Descendants

• Proto-West Germanic: *hnīgan
  • Old English: hnīgan
  • Old Frisian: hnīga
  • Old Saxon: hnīgan
    • Middle Low German: nîgen
  • Old Dutch: *nīgan
    • Middle Dutch: nigen
      • Dutch: nijgen
      • Limburgish: niege
  • Old High German: nīgan
    • Middle High German: nīgen
      • German: neigen (merged with *hnaigijaną)
• Proto-Norse:
  • Old Norse: hníga
    • Icelandic: hníga
    • Faroese: níga
    • Norwegian Bokmål: nige
    • Old Swedish: nīgha
      • Swedish: niga
        • → Finnish: niiata
• Gothic: 𐌷𐌽𐌴𐌹𐍅𐌰𐌽 (hneiwan)

References