*þeudō

Reconstruction

The word is *þeudō in Ringe, Köbler and Wiktionary,^[1][2][3] *þeuđō in Orel,^[4] and the stem *þeudō- in Kroonen.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂ (“tribe”):^[3] Ringe derives it from PIE *tewtáh2 "tribe, people" through *þeuþā́,^[1] Kroonen from *teut-éh₂-.^[5]

Morphology

A feminine ō-stem.^[2][6] Ringe gives the word as an example of Verner's law: with the accent on the ending, the second *þ of *þeuþā́ became *d.^[1] Kroonen thinks that *þeudō- may continue an old neuter collective to a masculine *þeuda- "(free) man", seen in Old High German and Middle Dutch.^[5] Bammesberger sets up a formation *teu-t-ā-, if the word belongs to the root *tew- "to swell".^[7] In Old High German the word also appears as a masculine i-stem and a neuter a-stem.^[8]

Evidence

The word is attested in all three branches: Gothic 𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰 (þiuda), Old Norse þjóð, Old English þēod, Old Frisian thiāde, Old Saxon thiod and Old High German diota.^[5] The Gothic word is in Wulfila's Bible, where it renders Ancient Greek ἔθνος (éthnos) and, in the plural, the "gentiles".^[9][8] It also occurs as a first element in Frankish and East Germanic personal names.^[8] Saami borrowed the Scandinavian word.^[8] The adjective Proto-Slavic *tjudjь (“foreign”) has often been taken as a loan from Gothic or West Germanic, because its *d does not fit an inherited word.^[6] Outside Germanic, Kroonen compares Oscan touto (“community”), Old Irish túath (“people, tribe”), Welsh tud (“people, nation”), Old Prussian tauto (“land”), Lithuanian tautà and Latvian tàuta (“people”), and calls it a European word.^[5]

Competing analyses

Orel holds the word identical with Hittite tuzzi- (“army”) and with Thracian and Illyrian names.^[4] Kroonen finds the Hittite word and the Sogdian and Persian comparisons uncertain,^[5] and Pronk-Tiethoff, after Kloekhorst, does not regard the Hittite word as a cognate.^[6] For the Slavic adjective, Pronk-Tiethoff also reports the view that it is inherited from a PIE *teu-t- with dissimilation of the final consonant.^[6] E. P. Hamp derived the West Germanic verb "to interpret" from a West Germanic *þeuđō "language".^[10] EWA objects that the noun never had this meaning.^[10]

Meanings

1. people, nation^[5][3]
2. tribe^[2][3]

Kroonen notes that the word was associated with cultural and especially linguistic identity.^[5] Old English also used it for "region, land", "troop" and "language".^[11]

Derivatives

• *þeudanaz "king, leader of the people", with *-anaz;^[12] Orel's *þeuđanaz, continued in Gothic 𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰𐌽𐍃 (þiudans, “king”).^[13]
• *þiudiskaz "of the people", with *-iskaz;^[14] Kroonen's *þeudiska- "the people's language".^[5]
• *þeudjan- "to interpret", which Kroonen thinks originally meant "to vernacularize";^[5] Orel writes *þeuđjanan.^[15]
• *alaþeudō "mankind, the whole population", with *ala-.^[16]
• Compounds in Orel: *þeuđa-kuninʒaz "sovereign", *þeuđa-lanđan "empire, region", and *þeuđa-weʒaz "highway", probably a calque of a Latin phrase for "public road".^[17]

Reflexes

• Gothic: 𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰 (þiuda, “people, nation, gentiles”)^[9]
• Old Norse: þjóð (“people”)^[18]
• Old English: þēod (“people, tribe, region, land, troop, language”)^[11]
• Old Frisian: thiāde (“people, folk”)^[19]
• Old Saxon: thiod (“people, nation, crowd”), also thioda^[20]
• Old Dutch: thiat (“people”)^[8]
• Old High German: diot (“people, nation, heathens”), also diota^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c Ringe, Don (2017), From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 123
2. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *þeudō
3. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *þeudō
4. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. *þeuđō
5. ^ 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. 540
6. ^ a b c d Pronk-Tiethoff, Saskia (2013), The Germanic Loanwords in Proto-Slavic, Leiden Studies in Indo-European 20, Amsterdam / New York: Rodopi, p. s.v. *tjudjь
7. ^ Bammesberger, Alfred (1990), Die Morphologie des urgermanischen Nomens, Heidelberg: Winter, p. § 4.4.3
8. ^ a b c d e f 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. diot
9. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. þiuda
10. ^ 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. diuten
11. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. þéod
12. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *þeudanaz
13. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. *þeuđanaz
14. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *þiudiskaz
15. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. *þeuđjanan I
16. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *alaþeudō
17. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. *þeuđa-weʒaz
18. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Altnordisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary database copy), p. s.v. Þjōð
19. ^ Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. thiāde
20. ^ Tiefenbach, Heinrich (2010), Altsächsisches Handwörterbuch / A Concise Old Saxon Dictionary, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter, p. s.v. thiod