*kruppaz

Reconstruction

The word is *kruppaz in Wiktionary and Orel,^[1][2] the stem *kruppa- in Kroonen and Köbler.^[3][4]

Etymology

Köbler compares from Proto-Indo-European *greub- (“to bend, to crawl”);^[4] Wiktionary calls that traditional derivation outdated, as recent work reconstructs the root as *grewbʰ-.^[1] Kroonen suggests a link with *krupp/bōn- "to crawl", through a meaning "to be clump-like".^[3] Orel bases it on *kreupaną, with an unexplained gemination of the p.^[2]

Morphology

A masculine a-stem.^[3][4] De Vries derives Old Norse kroppr from *krubna-.^[5] EWA explains the varying consonant inside the word by an n-stem derived from an original a-stem meaning "bulge".^[6]

Evidence

The word is attested in North and West Germanic: Old Norse kroppr, and Old English crop and Old High German kropf in West Germanic.^[3] Holthausen and Köbler set up a Gothic *kruppa "round mass", seen in French croupe and its Provençal counterpart, "rump of a horse".^[7][8]

Competing analyses

Orel separates a *kruppaz "bump, bunch" from a *kruppaz "crop, craw", which he considers the same word.^[2]

Meanings

1. compact object;^[3] body, mass^[4][1]
2. a compressed round mass, lump, ball^[1]
3. group, bunch, cluster, head of grain; crop^[1][4]

The daughters split the senses: Old Norse used the word for the body and a slaughtered carcass,^[5] Old English for a sprout, bunch or rock,^[3] and Old High German for a goitre and a bird's crop.^[6]

Derivatives

• *kruppilaz "cripple", in Orel.^[2]

Reflexes

• Old Norse: kroppr (“body, carcass”)^[5]
• Old English: cropp (“cluster, sprout, crop, pebble”)^[9]
• Old Saxon: kropp (“crop”)^[10]
• Old High German: kropf (“goitre, crop”)^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *kruppaz
2. ^ a b c d Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 222
3. ^ a b c d e f Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 307
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *kruppa-
5. ^ a b c de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. kroppr
6. ^ a b c 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. kropf
7. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Gotisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter, p. *kruppa
8. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *kruppa
9. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. cropp
10. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. krop