Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/hnuts

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

Etymology

From Pre-Proto-Germanic *knuds, from a root *knu- also seen in Proto-Celtic *knūs (source of Irish cnó) and Latin nux (“walnut”). Based on the form of the nouns and the restriction of the root to Germanic, Celtic and Italic, it has been argued to be of non-Indo-European origin.^[1]^[2]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈxnuts/

Noun

*hnuts f

nut

Inflection

consonant stemDeclension of *hnuts (consonant stem)
	singular	plural
nominative	*hnuts	*hnutiz
vocative	*hnut	*hnutiz
accusative	*hnutų	*hnutunz
genitive	*hnutiz	*hnutǫ̂
dative	*hnuti	*hnutumaz
instrumental	*hnutē	*hnutumiz

Descendants

Proto-West Germanic: *hnut
- Old English: hnutu
  - Middle English: nute, note
    - English: nut
      - → Japanese: ナット (natto)
    - Scots: nute, nuit, nit
- Old Frisian: *nutu
  - Saterland Frisian: Nuute
  - West Frisian: nút
- Old Saxon: hnut, *hnutu
  - Middle Low German: nōte
    - German Low German: Nööt
    - Plautdietsch: Nät
- Old Dutch: *nutu
  - Middle Dutch: nōte
    - Dutch: noot
      - Afrikaans: neut
      - Jersey Dutch: nœüt, nût
      - Negerhollands: neet, noot
      - Skepi Creole Dutch: noot
      - → Papiamentu: nechi, neetsje, neetsjie (from the diminutive)
      - → Saramaccan: notò
    - Limburgish: noeat (with unexpected oea)
- Old High German: nuz
  - Middle High German: nuz
    - Alemannic German: Nuss
    - German: Nuss
    - Hunsrik: Nuss
    - Luxembourgish: Noss
    - Pennsylvania German: Nuss
    - Yiddish: נוס (nus)
Old Norse: hnot
- Icelandic: hnot
- Faroese: nøt, nøta, nytur
- Norwegian Nynorsk: nòt
  - ⇒ Norwegian Nynorsk: nate-
- Norwegian Bokmål: nøtt
  - → Norwegian Nynorsk: nøtt
- Old Swedish: nut, not
  - Swedish: nöt
- Danish: nød

References

^ Guus Kroonen (2013) “*hnut-”, in Alexander Lubotsky, editor, Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11)‎, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 238: “Etymologically, the word for 'nut' is somewhat problematic, because the cognates in Italo-Celtic have the same root *knu-, but not the same suffixation. This, and the additional fact that the Germanic word is inflected as a root noun, may point to a non-IE origin.”
^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “nux”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 420

[1] Guus Kroonen (2013) “*hnut-”, in Alexander Lubotsky, editor, Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11)‎, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 238: “Etymologically, the word for 'nut' is somewhat problematic, because the cognates in Italo-Celtic have the same root *knu-, but not the same suffixation. This, and the additional fact that the Germanic word is inflected as a root noun, may point to a non-IE origin.”

[2] De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “nux”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 420

[1]

[2]