*stāną

Reconstruction

The verb is *stāną in Wiktionary,^[1] and Ringe indexes it as *stāną ~ *stai-, with the present stems *stai- ~ *stā-.^[2][3] Kroonen heads it *stēn-,^[4] Orel *stēnan,^[5] Köbler *stān, *stēn or *stǣn;^[6] EWA writes *stǣ-i̯e/a- or *stē₁-i̯e/a-.^[7]

Etymology

It is from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand”):^[1][8] Ringe derives it from an innovative present *sth₂-yé/ó- or a stative *sth₂-h₁yé/ó-, compared with Old Church Slavonic стоитъ (stojitŭ), which became *staja- ~ *staji- and then *stā- ~ *stai-.^[8]

Morphology

An anomalous, contracted present beside the strong verb *standaną: Ringe describes it as a j-present *sta-ji- ~ *sta-ja- that lost its intervocalic j, and finds only one past for both, the strong *stōþ- ~ *stōd-.^[9] He thinks that Proto-Germanic kept the original alternation of the stems *stai- and *stā-, as Old Saxon perhaps still does, with ē from *ai in the second and third person singular; in Old High German it was levelled and the verb inflected athematically, under the influence of "to do".^[3] Fulk calls it the athematic verb "stand", whose other forms were supplied by the strong verb.^[10]

Evidence

Kroonen notes that the verb is not attested in the oldest Germanic languages, but that its presence in both North and West Germanic suggests that it already existed in the proto-language; he cites a dialect form stā in Selbu, Norway, with nasalisation dating from Proto-Norse times, for the age of the North Germanic verb.^[4] The West Germanic forms are Old Frisian stān, Old Dutch stān, Old Saxon stān and Old High German stān beside stēn; the North Germanic ones Old Swedish stā and its modern Scandinavian descendants.^[4][10] Gothic and Old English lack it.^[4][3] Outside the present, the verb takes its forms almost entirely from *standaną.^[7]

Competing analyses

Kroonen finds the reconstruction difficult.^[4] Many forms point to *stēn-, a root present, but this can be reconciled with PIE *steh₂- only through a Narten present, third person singular *stéh₂-ti, plural *stéh₂-nti, giving *stēþi, *stanþi, which has no counterpart outside Germanic.^[4] The alternative is an i-present *sth₂-é/ói-ti, plural *sth₂-i-énti, giving *staiþi, *stajanþi; but that fails to explain North-West Germanic *stā- unless one accepts a change of *-aja- to *-ā-, as Þórhallsdóttir does.^[4] Ringe follows Þórhallsdóttir and Cowgill in this contraction.^[8][11] Wiktionary also takes the present from a j-present *sth₂-yé/ó-, which may be inherited as a formation known in Indo-European times, and the past stem from an innovated extension *stéh₂-t-.^[1] EWA finds the vowel of unclear origin, probably renewed after the verbs "to go" and "to let", since the expected form would be *stō- from PIE *steh₂-; an umlaut caused by the stem suffix *-i̯- has also been considered, but has no parallels.^[7] Orel, on the other hand, makes *stēnan the base from which the strong verb was formed as a secondary nasal present, and compares Sanskrit तिष्ठति (tíṣṭhati, “stands”), Ancient Greek ἵστημι (hístēmi, “to set”) and Latin stō (“to stand”).^[5][12]

Meanings

1. to stand^[1][4][6]

Old Frisian also used the verb for "to be situated, to last, to remain",^[13] Old Saxon for "to place oneself, to fall into line",^[14] and Old High German for "to remain, to be, to lie".^[15]

Derivatives

• *stadiz "place", which Wiktionary equates with *stāną and the suffix *-þiz.^[16]
• *staþōn, continued in Old Norse staði (“stack, rick”), which Orel derives from *stēnan and *stanđanan.^[17]

Reflexes

• Old Frisian: stān (“to stand, to be situated, to last”)^[13]
• Old Saxon: stān (“to stand, to place oneself”)^[14]
• Old Dutch: stān (“to stand”), in Kroonen's list^[4]
• Old High German: stān (“to stand, to remain”), also stēn^[15][7]
• Old Swedish: stā (“to stand”), in Kroonen's list^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *stāną
2. ^ Ringe, Don (2017), From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 366
3. ^ a b c Ringe, Don (2017), From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 295
4. ^ 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. 477
5. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. *stēnan
6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *stān
7. ^ a b c d 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. stân
8. ^ a b c Ringe, Don (2017), From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 159
9. ^ Ringe, Don (2017), From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 218
10. ^ a b Fulk, R. D. (2018), A Comparative Grammar of the Early Germanic Languages, Studies in Germanic Linguistics 3, Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins, p. 337
11. ^ Ringe, Don (2017), From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 205
12. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. *stanđanan
13. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altfriesisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. stān
14. ^ a b Tiefenbach, Heinrich (2010), Altsächsisches Handwörterbuch / A Concise Old Saxon Dictionary, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter, p. s.v. stān
15. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. stān
16. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *stadiz
17. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. *staþōn