*dur

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs *dur "door" for Proto-West Germanic.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *durz (“door”),^[1] a root noun which Ringe and Taylor and Köbler cite as *dur- and Orel as *đurz.^[2][3][4] In root nouns stressed *u was lowered to *o in Norse but not in West Germanic, and "door" keeps its *u in all the West Germanic languages.^[2] Ringe and Taylor take this to be probably significant: most endings of the root nouns had high vowels, and the *u of the attested forms may reflect levelling of the root vowel from those forms through the whole paradigm.^[5]

Morphology

Originally a root noun.^[6] Ringe and Taylor's root-noun paradigms for Proto-West Germanic, those of "foot", "tooth", "night" and "mouse", have a nominative singular without ending, an accusative singular in *-u and a genitive and dative singular in *-i, as in *fōt, *fōtu, *fōti; they give no paradigm of "door".^[7] Outside Norse the word was shifted into the i-stems or the u-stems, and the kept *u may be due to the new stem vowel.^[2] Old English duru is still inflected as a u-stem in early Old English,^[6] while Old Saxon duru is a feminine ō-stem used in the plural,^[8] Old Dutch duri an athematic feminine,^[9] and Old High German turi an i-stem that later became an ō-stem.^[3] Boutkan and Siebinga derive the plural forms, Old Saxon and Old Dutch ⟨duri⟩ and Old High German ⟨turi⟩, from a Proto-Germanic *dur-es, and the Old English and Old Saxon ⟨duru⟩ perhaps from an accusative plural in *-uns, the starting point of the shift to the u-stems.^[10]

Evidence

The noun is attested in all the West Germanic languages: Old Frisian dure, Old English duru, Old Saxon duru and Old High German turi.^[2] In Old Dutch, ONW records ⟨duri⟩ and ⟨duiri⟩ in the Old Low Franconian psalms and glosses of 901–1000, and ⟨dure⟩ and ⟨dura⟩ in Williram's commentary of 1100.^[11] In the Lex Salica, van Helten finds the word for "threshold" as ⟨duropello⟩, ⟨duropalo⟩, ⟨dorpilo⟩ and other variants, which point to a Salian Frankish *durupil; he takes it for a folk-etymological reshaping of a *drupil seen in Middle Dutch dreppel.^[12]

Competing analyses

Kroonen sets up a Proto-Germanic plural *durī- instead, continued by Old Norse dyrr, Old Saxon duri and Old High German turi,^[13] and Wiktionary has a feminine i-stem Proto-Germanic *durīz behind the Old Saxon, Old Dutch and Old High German forms.^[14] Beside the feminine there was a neuter a-stem, which Wiktionary reconstructs as *dor "large door, gate":^[15] Old English dor, Old Saxon dor and Old High German tor.^[16][17][18] Orel takes *đuran for a morphological variant of *đurz.^[4]

Meanings

1. door^[2][1]

Old English and Old High German also used the word for "gate".^[19][20]

Derivatives

• Wiktionary reconstructs Proto-Germanic *durawardaz (“door-keeper”);^[21] Orel lists the compound in Old English duruweard and Old High German torwarto.^[4]
• Wiktionary reconstructs Proto-Germanic *durastudō (“doorpost”);^[22] Orel lists Old English durustod.^[4]

Reflexes

• Old English: duru (“door, gate”)^[19]
• Old Frisian: dore (“door”)^[10]
• Old Saxon: duru (“door”)^[23]
• Old Dutch: duri (“door, gate”)^[11]
• Old High German: turi (“door, gate”)^[20]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *dur
2. ^ a b c d e Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 28
3. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *dur-
4. ^ a b c d Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 79
5. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 28–29
6. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 385
7. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 117
8. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. duru
9. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Altniederfränkisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. duri
10. ^ a b Boutkan, Dirk; Siebinga, Sjoerd Michiel (2005), Old Frisian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 1, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. dore
11. ^ a b Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org, p. s.v. duri
12. ^ van Helten, Willem Lodewijk (1900), Zu den malbergischen Glossen und den salfränkischen Formeln und Lehnwörtern der Lex Salica, Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur 25, 225–542, p. 485
13. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 110
14. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *durīz
15. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *dor
16. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. dor
17. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. dor
18. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. tor
19. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. duru
20. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. turi
21. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *durawardaz
22. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *durastudō
23. ^ Berr, Samuel (1971), An Etymological Glossary to the Old Saxon Heliand, Berne / Frankfurt: Herbert Lang, p. 92