*ab

Reconstruction

The word is *ab in Wiktionary,^[1] *aba in Kroonen^[2] and *aƀa in Orel;^[3] Köbler gives *aba and *ab,^[4] and Ringe *ab ~ *aba.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó (“away, off”):^[1][2] Kroonen explains the PIE word as a fossilised allative case *h₂p-ó of an ablauting root noun *h₂ep-s, genitive *h₂p-ós, in which most IE languages generalised the full grade of the strong cases.^[2]

Morphology

A preposition and adverb, also used as a prefix.^[2][4] Its b instead of the expected f is a problem for the view that Verner's law followed the loss of accented final vowels: Ringe sets up *apó > *afó > *abó > *ab ~ *aba, but finds the example not probative, since Old High German kept an unapocopated form and since words of this class could be destressed before Verner's law operated.^[6] Schaffner likewise explains the b of the preverb as lenition in unstressed, proclitic position, beside a stressed *af- from *ápo- in nominal compounds.^[7] Kroonen compares the final vowel of Old High German aba with that of *ana "on", which was lost in the daughter languages but kept in compounds and restored from them.^[8] Orel calls the -a of the Old High German form secondary.^[3]

Evidence

The word is attested in all three branches: Gothic 𐌰𐍆 (af) in Gothic, Old Norse af in Old Norse, and Old English of, Old Frisian of, Old Saxon af and Old High German aba, Old High German ab in West Germanic.^[2] Gothic shows the voiced b before the question particle in Gothic 𐌰𐌱𐌿 (abu).^[9][10] Outside Germanic Kroonen lists Hittite appa (“behind, back, again”), Ancient Greek ἀπό (apó, “away from”), Latin ab (“from, off”) and Albanian pa (“without”).^[2]

Competing analyses

Kroonen finds the regular zero-grade allative *h₂p-ó preserved in Old Church Slavonic по (po, “after, on, by”) and in *fanē "from".^[2][11] EWA leaves open whether appa belongs here or to PIE *epi, *opi, and calls the Celtic comparisons uncertain.^[12] Ringe doubts that the accent of Ancient Greek ἀπό (apó) is real, since the word is usually a proclitic and the postposed ἄπο (ápo) agrees with Sanskrit.^[5]

Meanings

1. from, away from, off^[2][3][1]
2. away, as an adverb^[4][1]

Wiktionary also gives the preposition the sense "of".^[1] Old Norse also used it for "out of",^[13] and the Old Frisian adverb as a predicate meant "abolished, absent, cut off".^[14]

Derivatives

• *afteraz "back, behind"^[15] and the preposition *after(i) "behind", formed with the contrastive suffix *-tero-;^[16] with *aftrą "back, again".^[17]
• *afera- "behind, later", the comparative of the PIE adverb.^[18]
• *abuhaz "turned the wrong way", in Kroonen an old compound with the word for "eye".^[18]
• *abisōną "to cut, to shear".^[19][3]
• *abnijaną "to perform", which Kroonen derives from this word with a suffix *-njan-.^[2][20]
• In Orel: *aƀjōn "ebb" and the variant *aƀu.^[3]

Reflexes

• Gothic: 𐌰𐍆 (af, “from, away from”)^[9][21]
• Old Norse: af (“from, out of, away”)^[13]
• Old English: of (“from, off”), æf-^[2][22]
• Old Frisian: of (“from, away from”), af^[14]
• Old Saxon: af (“from, out of”)^[23]
• Old High German: aba (“from, away from”), ab^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *ab
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 1
3. ^ a b c d e Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. *aƀa
4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *aba
5. ^ a b Ringe, Don (2017), From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 125
6. ^ Ringe, Don (2017), From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 125–126
7. ^ Schaffner, Stefan (2001), Das Vernersche Gesetz und der innerparadigmatische grammatische Wechsel des Urgermanischen im Nominalbereich, Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft 103, Innsbruck, p. 276
8. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 26
9. ^ a b Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. af
10. ^ Ringe, Don (2017), From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 141
11. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 127
12. ^ a b Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. s.v. aba
13. ^ a b de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. af
14. ^ a b Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. of
15. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *afteraz
16. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 3
17. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *aftrą
18. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 2
19. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *abisōną
20. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *abnijaną
21. ^ Lehmann, Winfred P. (1986), A Gothic Etymological Dictionary, based on the third edition of Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache by Sigmund Feist, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. af
22. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. æf-
23. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. af