*hwaz

Reconstruction

The masculine nominative is *hwaz in Wiktionary and Ringe,^[1][2] and *xwaz in Orel, who heads the neuter separately as *xwat.^[3] Kroonen and Köbler cite the pronominal stem *hwa-, with the neuter *hwat.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *kʷos (“who”), the PIE interrogative pronoun, which Wiktionary gives beside *kʷís;^[1] Orel also derives the masculine from the IE *kʷos-pronoun and the neuter from its neuter, comparing Sanskrit, Avestan, Latin and Lithuanian forms.^[3] Kroonen calls it the Indo-European interrogative pronoun, and sets the masculine *hwaz and *hwiz from *kʷe/os, the feminine *hwō from *kʷeh₂ and the neuter *hwat from *kʷod.^[4]

Morphology

A pronoun with pronominal inflection, of which only the singular can be reconstructed.^[2] Ringe gives the masculine nominative *hwaz (perhaps *hwiz), accusative *hwanǭ, genitive *hwes (perhaps *hwas), dative *hwammai and instrumental *hwē or *hwī; the neuter nominative and accusative *hwat; and the feminine nominative *hwō, accusative *hwǭ and genitive *hwezōz.^[2] The feminine rests on Gothic alone, and Ringe calls this one of very few Proto-Germanic paradigms where doublets are hard to avoid: the instrumental Gothic 𐍈𐌴 (ƕē) is attested, while *hwī has left reflexes throughout Northwest Germanic.^[2] In the genitive *hwas ~ *hwes the voiceless Verner's-law alternant of *-s- survives,^[6] and *hwes continues PIE *kʷésyo "whose?".^[7] Boutkan sees in Gothic 𐍈𐌰𐌶𐌿𐌷 (ƕazuh, “everyone”) a trace of the final *-z of *hwaz, preserved before an enclitic particle.^[8]

Evidence

The pronoun is attested in all three branches: Gothic 𐍈𐌰𐍃 (ƕas) in Gothic, Old Norse hverr in Old Norse, and Old English hwā, Old Saxon hwē and Old High German wer in West Germanic, with the neuters hvat, hwæt, hwat and waz.^[4] Kroonen derives the Old Norse form from *hwaz-ja-;^[4] Orel derives it, with Gothic 𐍈𐌰𐍂𐌾𐌹𐍃 (ƕarjis, “which”), from *xwar jaz, with a second part *jaz "who, which".^[9] Nielsen cites early Norse forms on the Eggja and Rök stones, and concludes that the Early Runic form was *hwaz.^[10]

Competing analyses

The vowel of Old Saxon hwē and Old High German wer is explained in two ways.^[4][10] Kroonen reconstructs a masculine *hwiz from PIE *kʷes, beside *hwaz from *kʷos;^[4] Nielsen, too, once describes both vowels as reflexes of alternants going back to the parent language, but elsewhere suggests that the Old Saxon and Old High German vowel was taken from the anaphoric pronoun.^[10] Ringe marks *hwiz with a query and calls the spread of the e-vowel through the Old High German masculine paradigm clearly an innovation, though easier to explain if an i-stem nominative had existed.^[2] For Gothic 𐍈𐌰 (ƕa, “what”) without the -t of the other languages, Orel asks whether the -t was lost in unstressed position,^[3] and Ringe uses the form as indirect evidence for the order in which final *-d and final vowels were lost.^[11]

Meanings

1. who?^[4][3][5][1]
2. what?, in the neuter *hwat^[4][3][5][1]

Wiktionary also glosses the case forms: "whose", "whom", "with whom, with what", "how".^[1] In the daughters the pronoun is also indefinite, "anyone, someone": so Old Norse hverr,^[12] Old Frisian hwā^[13] and Old Saxon hwē.^[14]

Derivatives

• The instrumentals *hwē, *hwī and *hwō "how, with what, by what means".^{[15][16][17][2]}
• *hwazuh "each, everyone", with the enclitic *-hw, like Latin quisque.^[18]
• The adverbs *hwar "where" and *hwan "when",^[19][20] Orel's *xwar and *xwan(n)ai, both derived from the stem *xwa-.^[9]
• *hwilīkaz "what kind of", from *hwī and *-līkaz.^[21]
• *hwarjaz "which?" and *hwaþaraz "which of two?", pronominals inflected as strong adjectives;^[2] Kroonen's *hwaþera-.^[4]

Reflexes

• Gothic: 𐍈𐌰𐍃 (ƕas, “who, anyone”), neuter 𐍈𐌰 (ƕa, “what”)^[22][3]
• Old Norse: hverr (“who?, anyone”), neuter hvat (“what”)^[12][4]
• Old English: hwā (“who”), neuter hwæt (“what”)^[23][4]
• Old Frisian: hwā (“who, someone”), neuter hwet (“what”)^[13][3]
• Old Saxon: hwē (“who, what kind of, anyone”), neuter hwat (“what, something”)^[14]
• Old High German: wer (“who, which, anyone”), also hwer, neuter waz (“what”)^[24][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *hwaz
2. ^ a b c d e f g Ringe, Don (2017), From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 322
3. ^ a b c d e f g Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 199
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 261
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *hwa-
6. ^ Ringe, Don (2017), From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 232
7. ^ Ringe, Don (2017), From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 142
8. ^ Boutkan, Dirk (1995), The Germanic 'Auslautgesetze', Leiden Studies in Indo-European 4, Amsterdam / Atlanta: Rodopi
9. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 198
10. ^ a b c Nielsen, Hans Frede (2000), The Early Runic Language of Scandinavia: Studies in Germanic Dialect Geography, Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ Ringe, Don (2017), From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 169
12. ^ a b de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. hverr
13. ^ a b Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. hwā
14. ^ a b Tiefenbach, Heinrich (2010), Altsächsisches Handwörterbuch / A Concise Old Saxon Dictionary, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter, p. s.v. hwē
15. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *hwē
16. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *hwī
17. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *hwō
18. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *hwazuh
19. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *hwar
20. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *hwan
21. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *hwilīkaz
22. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. ƕas
23. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. hwā
24. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wer