Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/-astrijā

This Proto-West 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-West Germanic

Alternative reconstructions

• *-istrijā

Etymology

Uncertain; multiple origins have been suggested, but none has received widespread approval.

• Despite the similarity of the suffix to Vulgar Latin -istria, borrowing from it is now usually rejected because of the large number of Old English formations where this suffix is applied to native roots.
• Davis and Bammesberger derive it from earlier -astrī (a neuter ja-stem; they see this form surviving in relics such as Old English eowestre) suffixed with *-jā, from Proto-Germanic *-astriją, itself a suffixation of *-istrą, *-astrą with *-ją.
• Gąsiorowski instead considers this suffix to be an extension of earlier *-astri (an ī/jō-stem), with replacement of the unproductive ī/jō-stem endings with more common ōn-stem endings. He suggests that *-astri originates from Proto-Indo-European *-sr-ih₂, a zero-grade form of *-sōr suffixed with *-ih₂; he also suggests a relation to Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz (see *-ārī).

Suffix

*-astrijā f

1. -ress: Forms feminine agent nouns from verbs.

   Coordinate term: *-ārī

Inflection

Descendants

• Old English: -estre, -istræ, -istre, -ystre
  • Middle English: -estere, -ester, -estre, -ister, -istre, -star, -stare, -ster, -stere, -uster, -ysstere
    • English: -ster
      • ⇒ English: -stress
    • Scots: -ster
• Old Frisian: -ster, -stere
  • Saterland Frisian: -ster
  • West Frisian: -ster
• Old Saxon: *-istra
  • Middle Low German: -ester, -ster
• Old Dutch: *-istra
  • Middle Dutch: -ster, *-stere
    • Dutch: -ster
• >? Old High German: *-astria
  • ⇒ Old High German: wagastria

References