*sinkwaną

Reconstruction

The infinitive is *sinkwaną in Wiktionary,^[1] *senkwanan in Orel^[2] and *senkwan or *sinkwan in Köbler.^[3] Kroonen cites it by its stem *sinkwan-.^[4] Seebold heads it SENKW-A-,^[5] Mailhammer +senkwa-,^[6] and EWA writes *senku̯-e/a-.^[7]

Etymology

Wiktionary has it from Proto-Indo-European *sengʷ- (“to sink, to drop”), comparing Old Armenian անկանիմ (ankanim).^[1]

Morphology

A strong verb of class III.^[6][4][7] Mailhammer puts it among the verbs with an uncertain IE etymology.^[6] Seebold describes the verb as intransitive, "to fall".^[5] Kroonen thinks the n of the root is probably an infix, in view of the iterative *sakk/gōn-, and asks whether the labiovelar arose from *-k-nu- by Kluge's law; he sets up *si-n-k-nu-.^[4]

Evidence

The verb is attested in all three branches: Gothic 𐍃𐌹𐌲𐌵𐌰𐌽 (sigqan), Old Norse søkkva, and Old English sincan, Old Saxon sinkan and Old High German sincan in West Germanic.^[4] Old Frisian has it only in Old Frisian bisinka (“to sink down”),^[7] and Seebold could not find in the texts Holthausen's simple verb, sinka.^[5] The Gothic verb is in Wulfila's Bible, in the past tense at Luke 4:40 and 5:7.^[8] In Old High German it is recorded from the end of the 8th century.^[7]

Competing analyses

Kroonen calls it a strong verb of uncertain origin.^[4] Seebold finds no secure comparison: Old Armenian անկանիմ (ankanim, “I fall”) and the Greek aorist for "fell, sank" are ambiguous in form and uncertain in meaning, and Lithuanian senkù (“to sink, to dry up”) might continue a variant root; he asks whether a *si-n-gʷ- with ablaut shift and assimilation could be set up.^[5] Feist saw two options: comparing Armenian, Lithuanian and Slavic words for "fall" and "dry up", or supposing a root *seiku- with a nasal infix, which would join the verb to Old High German sīgan (“to fall, to drip”).^[9] Orel equates it with the Slavic verb *sęgti "to reach, to grab".^[2]

Meanings

1. to sink^[4][2][3][1]

Old English also used it for "to sink in, to be engulfed".^[10] Old High German also had "to settle, to lower oneself".^[11]

Derivatives

• *sankwijaną "to cause to sink", the causative:^[12] Kroonen's *sankwjan-,^[13] Orel's *sankwjanan.^[14]
• *sankwą "a sinking", whence Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌵𐌰 (saggqa) and Old Norse sǫkk;^[15] Orel's *sankwan "setting of the sun, west".^[16]
• *sakk/gōn- "to drop, to sag", an o-grade iterative which Kroonen thinks possibly related.^[17]

Reflexes

• Gothic: 𐍃𐌹𐌲𐌵𐌰𐌽 (sigqan, “to sink”)^[9]
• Old Norse: søkkva (“to sink”)^[18]
• Old English: sincan (“to sink, to go down”)^[10]
• Old Frisian: bisinka (“to sink down”)^[7]
• Old Saxon: sinkan (“to sink down”)^[19]
• Old High German: sinkan (“to sink, to settle”)^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *sinkwaną
2. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. *senkwanan
3. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *senkwan
4. ^ 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. 437
5. ^ a b c d Seebold, Elmar (1970), Vergleichendes und etymologisches Wörterbuch der germanischen starken Verben, The Hague / Paris: Mouton, p. SENKW-A-
6. ^ a b c Mailhammer, Robert (2007), The Germanic Strong Verbs: Foundations and Development of a New System, Trends in Linguistics 183, Berlin / New York: Mouton de Gruyter, p. 219
7. ^ 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. sinkan
8. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. sigqan
9. ^ a b Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. sigqan
10. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. sincan
11. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. sinkan
12. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *sankwijaną
13. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 426
14. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. *sankwjanan
15. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *sankwą
16. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. *sankwan
17. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 423
18. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Altnordisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary database copy), p. s.v. søkkva
19. ^ Tiefenbach, Heinrich (2010), Altsächsisches Handwörterbuch / A Concise Old Saxon Dictionary, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter, p. s.v. sinkan