Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/nasō

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 *néh₂s (“nose”).^[1] Compare Latin nāsus.

May, in Proto-Germanic, have been a plurale tantum, whose nominative ending *-ō goes back to the Proto-Indo-European thematic nominative dual ending *-oh₁, while the other cases displayed consonant-stem plural endings -ǭ, -miz, -unz. This presupposes a Proto-Germanic consonant stem *nas- (“nostril”).^[2]

Griepentrog prefers to reconstruct, following Rasmussen, the original Proto-Indo-European paradigm as an acrostratic paradigm with rare ablaut a ~ ā: nom. sg. *Hnā́s-s, acc. sg. *Hnā́s-m̥, gen. sg. *Hnás-s (> *Hnás-os), dat. sg. *Hnás-ey, nom. du. *Hnā́s-h₁, nom. pl. *Hnā́s-es, acc. pl. *Hnás-m̥s.^[3]

Griepentrog also considers the zero-grade form *nus- instead of **uns- regular, adducing parallels. Forms in *nus- may be additionally analogically influenced by a Proto-Indo-European verb *news- (“to sniff”).^[4]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈnɑ.sɔː/

Noun

*nasō f

nose
Synonym: *nabją

Inflection

ō-stemDeclension of *nasō (ō-stem)
	singular	plural
nominative	*nasō	*nasôz
vocative	*nasō	*nasôz
accusative	*nasǭ	*nasōz
genitive	*nasōz	*nasǫ̂
dative	*nasōi	*nasōmaz
instrumental	*nasō	*nasōmiz

Derived terms

*nasją

Descendants

Proto-West Germanic: *nasu
- Old English: nasu, naso
  - Middle English: nase, nasse, nease
- Old Frisian: *nase
  - North Frisian: naas
- Old Dutch: *nasa
  - Middle Dutch: nase
- Old High German: nasa
  - Middle High German: nase
    - Alemannic German: Nase, Naase (Basel, Aargau, Lucerne, Zug, Schwyz, Uri)
      - Swabian: Nas
    - Bavarian: Nosn
    - Central Franconian: Nas, Noas, Nos (western Moselle Franconian)
      - Hunsrik: Naas
      - Luxembourgish: Nues
    - East Franconian: Nous
    - German: Nase
    - Rhine Franconian: Noos
      - Pennsylvania German: Naas
    - Vilamovian: nōs, nōz
    - Yiddish: נאָז (noz)
Old Norse: nǫs
- Icelandic: nös f
- Faroese: nøs f
- Norwegian Nynorsk: nos f, nase m
  - → Norwegian Bokmål: nos m or f, nase m
- Norwegian: (dialectal) nøs, nåss f; nåså, næsa, nasa m; nasa, nase f
- Norwegian Bokmål: nese m or f
- Old Swedish: nos f, næsa f
  - Swedish: nos c, näsa c
- Old Danish: næsæ f
  - Danish: næse c
- Gutnish: nos f

References

^ Guus Kroonen (2013) “*nasō- ~ *nusō-”, in Alexander Lubotsky, editor, Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11)‎, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 383
^ Griepentrog, Wolfgang (1995) “Urgermanisch *nas-, Dual *nas-ō, *nus-ō "Nase", "Nasenloch"”, in Die Wurzelnomina des Germanischen und ihre Vorgeschichte (in German), Innsbruck, Austria: Institut für Sprachwissenschaft der Universität Innsbruck, →ISBN, pages 323–351, specifically pp. 329–333
^ Griepentrog, p. 350
^ Griepentrog, pp. 334f.

[1] Guus Kroonen (2013) “*nasō- ~ *nusō-”, in Alexander Lubotsky, editor, Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11)‎, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 383

[2] Griepentrog, Wolfgang (1995) “Urgermanisch *nas-, Dual *nas-ō, *nus-ō "Nase", "Nasenloch"”, in Die Wurzelnomina des Germanischen und ihre Vorgeschichte (in German), Innsbruck, Austria: Institut für Sprachwissenschaft der Universität Innsbruck, →ISBN, pages 323–351, specifically pp. 329–333

[3] Griepentrog, p. 350

[4] Griepentrog, pp. 334f.

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