Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/meluks

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/meluks. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/meluks, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/meluks in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/meluks you have here. The definition of the word Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/meluks will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofReconstruction:Proto-Germanic/meluks, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
 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 Proto-Indo-European *h₂melǵ- (“to milk”). Cognate with Latin mulgeō (“milk”, verb).[1]

The presence of *-u- in the second syllable is aberrant, as it was not present in the PIE root or even in the related Germanic verb *melkaną. However, the evidence of all descendants speaks unambiguously in favour of its presence. Aside from being directly attested in most of them, it is also implied by Old Norse u-mutation in case forms where it would not be expected, in the raising of e to i before u in the non-Ingvaeonic West Germanic languages, and in the High German shift /k/ → /x/.

Possible theories of origin of the disputed *-u-:

  • According to Kümmel, the vowel *u is an anaptyctic vowel, inserted after the resonant to ease the complicated cluster of three consonants *VRCs#.[2]
  • According to Szemerenyi (1992: 1125) it is the result of contamination of the full- and zero-grade in an ablauting paradigm */melk-z/, genitive */mulk-iz/, but this leaves the Schwebeablaut unexplained.[3]
  • According to Bammesberger (1990: 196f) this */u/ represents a schwa that arose between the */l/ and the */k/ in the nominative */melk-z/. However, this solution fails to explain why the same did not happen in e.g *alhs (“temple”), perhaps this is due to dialectal variation.[4]
  • According to Kroonen, *-u- originates from the strong verb *mel(u)kaną (“to milk”), whence this archaic root noun likely derives. This does not answer the ultimate origin of the u however.[1]

Pronunciation

Noun

*meluks f

  1. milk

Inflection

Declension of *meluks (consonant stem)
singular plural
nominative *meluks *melukiz
vocative *meluk *melukiz
accusative *melukų *melukunz
genitive *melukiz *melukǫ̂
dative *meluki *melukumaz
instrumental *melukē *melukumiz

Derived terms

Descendants

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Kroonen, Guus (2013) “*meluk-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11)‎, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 364
  2. ^ Kümmel, M.J. (2004), Ungeklärtes *u neben Liquida in germanischen Nomina, in: A. Hyllested, A. R. Jørgensen (et al. eds.), Per Aspera ad Asteriscos. Studia Indogermanica in honorem Jens Elmegård Rasmussen sexagenarii Idibus Martiis anno MMMIV (Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft 112), Innsbruck: Institut für Sprachen und Literaturen der Universität Innsbruck, 291-303. p. 298
  3. ^ Szemerenyi, O. (1987-1992), Scripta minora, selected essays in Inda-European, Greek, and Latin. Innsbruck
  4. ^ Bammesberger, A. (1990), Die Morphologie des urgermanischen Nomens. Heidelberg
  5. ^ “mjølk” in Ivar Aasen (1873) Norsk Ordbog med dansk Forklaring
Wikious
Boobota
Sagapedia