*spehōną

Reconstruction

The verb is *spehōną in Wiktionary,^[1] *spexōjanan ~ *spaxōjanan in Orel,^[2] and *spahōn "to peer, to spy" in Köbler.^[3] EWA reconstructs a West Germanic *speχōi̯e/a-.^[4]

Etymology

It is from Proto-Indo-European *speḱ- (“to look”).^[1] EWA derives the verb from a root noun *spek̂- "spy", lost in Germanic but continued in the compounds Latin auspex (“augur”) and haruspex.^[4]

Morphology

A weak verb of the second class.^[4] Heidermanns calls it a primary weak verb, and finds the adjective Old Saxon spāh (“wise”), Old High German spāhi (“wise”) in ablaut with it, so that the adjective first meant "exploring".^[5]

Evidence

The verb is West Germanic: Old High German spehōn is recorded from the 9th century, its compound bispehōn from the end of the 8th, and Middle Low German and Middle Dutch have it too.^[4] A Low Franconian form is inferred from its French borrowing.^[4] Old Norse speja (“to spy”), recorded late, is a loan from Middle Low German.^[4][6] There is no Gothic or Old English form.^[1]

Competing analyses

Orel puts Old Norse spá (“to prophesy”) under this verb;^[2] EWA explains it as a derivative of the related adjective *spēχi-,^[4] and Köbler sets it under a separate *spahōn "to announce".^[3] For the outside cognates, Heidermanns and EWA name the yo-present Latin speciō (“to look at”), Ancient Greek σκέπτομαι (sképtomai, “to look about”) and Avestan spasiieiti (“watches, spies”);^[7][4] Orel adds Tocharian A päk- (“to intend”).^[2]

Meanings

1. to peer, to look, to spy^[3][1]

Old High German used it for "to spy out, to explore, to inquire".^[4]

Derivatives

• A feminine noun "looking out, spying": Orel's *spexō, Köbler's *spahō, with Old High German speha.^[2][8]

Reflexes

• Old High German: spehōn (“to spy out, to explore, to inquire”)^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *spehōną
2. ^ a b c d Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 363
3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *spahōn
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. spehôn
5. ^ Heidermanns, Frank (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der germanischen Primäradjektive, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter, p. 534
6. ^ de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. speja
7. ^ Heidermanns, Frank (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der germanischen Primäradjektive, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter, p. 535
8. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *spahō