*ahtō

Reconstruction

Ringe and Taylor reconstruct *ahtō for Proto-West Germanic,^[1] and Wiktionary has the same form.^[2] It continues inherited from Proto-Germanic *ahtōu (“eight”),^[1][3] which Kroonen, Köbler and EWA write *ahtau.^[4][5][6] Ringe and Taylor count it among the few examples of a monophthongization in Proto-West Germanic of the remaining diphthongs of unstressed syllables to long mid vowels, which made *ahtōu into *ahtō.^[7] Later, unstressed *ō at the end of a word was unrounded in Old English, in Old Frisian and in the Old Saxon of the Lublin psalm fragments and a few other short texts, so that *ahtō became *ahtā, the source of Old English eahta and Old Frisian achta, while Old Saxon ahto and Old High German ahto keep the o.^[8] In Old English the fronted *æ was then broken before *h, *æhtā giving the West Saxon form, with Northumbrian ⟨æhto⟩ and Mercian ⟨hund-æhta-tiġ⟩ "eighty".^[9][10]

Morphology

A cardinal numeral.^[11][12] Ringe reconstructs the Proto-Germanic numerals up to "twelve" as uninflected, at least before a noun within a noun phrase.^[3] EWA infers the Proto-Germanic form *ahtau especially from the Gothic numeral and the inflected forms with -w- of Old High German, such as ⟨ahtouuiu⟩, and of Northumbrian Old English, such as ⟨æhtowe⟩.^[6]

Evidence

The numeral is attested in all the West Germanic languages: Old English eahta, Old Frisian achta, Old Saxon ahto and Old High German ahto,^[10] and Old Dutch ahto in the Middle Franconian Rhyme Bible of 1151–1200.^[13] EWA calls it a very old numeral found in all the Germanic languages.^[6]

Meanings

1. eight^[1][2]

Old Frisian perhaps also used the numeral as a noun for a body of eight judges.^[14]

Derivatives

• *ahtudō "eighth", which Wiktionary reconstructs;^[15] Köbler sets up the Proto-Germanic ordinal *ahtudō- for forms such as Old English eahtoþa and Old Frisian achtunda.^[16][17]
• *ahtō tigiwi and *hund ahtō tigiwi "eighty", which Wiktionary reconstructs;^[18][19] the Old Saxon form is ahtodoch (“eighty”).^[20]

Reflexes

• Old English: eahta (“eight”)^[21]
• Old Frisian: achta (“eight”)^[14]
• Old Saxon: ahto (“eight”)^[22]
• Old Dutch: ahto (“eight”)^[13]
• Old High German: ahto (“eight”)^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 61
2. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *ahtō
3. ^ a b Ringe, Don (2017), From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 320
4. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 6
5. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *ahtau
6. ^ 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. ahto
7. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 60–61
8. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 154
9. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 176
10. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 312
11. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. ahto
12. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altfriesisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. achta
13. ^ a b Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org, p. s.v. ahto
14. ^ a b Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. achta
15. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *ahtudō
16. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *ahtudō-
17. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altfriesisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. achtunda
18. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *ahtō tigiwi
19. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *hund ahtō tigiwi
20. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. ahtodoch
21. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. eahta
22. ^ Berr, Samuel (1971), An Etymological Glossary to the Old Saxon Heliand, Berne / Frankfurt: Herbert Lang, p. 26