*sa

Reconstruction

The masculine nominative singular of the demonstrative pronoun is *sa in Orel, Köbler, Ringe and Wiktionary;^[1][2][3][4] Köbler also gives *se.^[2] Antonsen writes *s-a.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *só (“that”), the PIE masculine nominative singular "that";^[3][4] as a monosyllable it kept its final vowel when final short vowels were lost.^[3][6] Orel equates it with PIE *so and compares Ancient Greek ὁ (ho), among other forms.^[1]

Morphology

Orel and EWA reconstruct the feminine *sō and the neuter *þat beside it, EWA writing the neuter *þat(ōn).^[1][7] The s-forms of the nominative stood beside forms in þ- in the rest of the paradigm,^[7] which Wiktionary reconstructs form by form, among them *þanǭ, *þas and *þammai.^[4] In Gothic the pronoun with the enclitic "and", Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌷 (sah, “and this”), lost the final vowel of the enclitic, from *so-kwe.^[6]

Evidence

Gothic 𐍃𐌰 (sa) and Old Norse sá continue the word,^[1][7] the Norse form with a lengthened vowel.^[6] West Germanic generalised the dental of the other cases through the whole paradigm, except for Old English sē and the occasional Old Saxon se beside the usual the.^[7][8][9] The dental appears, for instance, in Old High German der.^[7] In runic inscriptions, Antonsen reads the masculine nominative singular on the Stentoften stone, which he dates to 600–650 AD.^[5] Nielsen takes the Stentoften form, which probably works as a relative pronoun, as the earliest attestation in Scandinavia, setting aside a reading on the Lindholmen bone amulet; even without it, he says, the comparative evidence requires *sa.^[10]

Competing analyses

For the vowel of Old English sē, where *sæ would be expected, Nielsen allows analogy with the third-person pronoun *ez, which may also have shaped the Old Saxon and Old High German forms;^[10] Fulk, tentatively following Girvan, regards the Old English form as a reformation of the reflex of *sa after the reflex of *h-iz.^[6]

Meanings

1. that (masculine)^[4]
2. this^[2]

EWA describes the Proto-Germanic pronoun as both near- and far-deictic.^[7] In Gothic it also renders the Greek definite article, and with the particle -ei it serves as a relative pronoun.^[11]

Reflexes

• Gothic: 𐍃𐌰 (sa, “this, that”)^[8]
• Old Norse: sá (“that, this, any”)^[12]
• Old English: sē (“he, that, which”)^[13]
• Old Saxon: se, occasionally, for the usual dental form^[8][9]
• Old Frisian and Old High German have only forms with the dental, such as Old Frisian thī and Old High German der^[7][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 310
2. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *sa
3. ^ a b c Ringe, Don (2017), From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 142
4. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *sa
5. ^ a b Antonsen, Elmer H. (1975), A Concise Grammar of the Older Runic Inscriptions, Sprachstrukturen A 3, Tübingen: Niemeyer, p. Stentoften stone
6. ^ a b c d Fulk, R. D. (2018), A Comparative Grammar of the Early Germanic Languages, Studies in Germanic Linguistics 3, Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins
7. ^ a b c d e f g 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. der
8. ^ a b c Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. sa
9. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. se
10. ^ a b Nielsen, Hans Frede (2000), The Early Runic Language of Scandinavia: Studies in Germanic Dialect Geography, Heidelberg: Winter, p. § 5.5
11. ^ 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. sa
12. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Altnordisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary database copy), p. s.v. sā
13. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. sē
14. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altfriesisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. thī