*fōt

Reconstruction

Ringe and Taylor reconstruct *fōt for Proto-West Germanic,^[1] and Wiktionary has the same form.^[2] It continues inherited from Proto-Germanic *fōts (“foot”),^[2][3] which Kroonen cites as *fōt-, Orel as *fōtz and Köbler as *fōtu-, *fōtuz.^[3][4][5] Kroonen describes it as an inherited root noun in which Germanic generalized the lengthened grade of the root.^[3] EWA takes the u-stem of Gothic for a new formation from the accusative singular *fōtun and accusative plural *fōtunz of the root noun, whose original inflection survives in the Old English and Old Frisian plural fēt, fēt, from *fōt-iz.^[6]

Morphology

A masculine root noun.^[1][3] Ringe and Taylor's Proto-West Germanic paradigm has the singular nominative *fōt, accusative *fōtu, genitive and dative-instrumental *fōti, and the plural nominative *fōti, accusative *fōti (perhaps *-ų̄), genitive *fōtō, dative-instrumental *fōtum.^[1] Since no daughter has a distinct instrumental, they suppose that dative and instrumental had merged in the singular of the consonant stems as well as in the plural.^[1] The nominative plural, Proto-Germanic *fōtiz, became Old English *fœ̅ti by i-umlaut and then, with the loss of final *-i, Mercian and Northumbrian fœ̅t, West Saxon fēt.^[7][8] In Old High German the case forms follow no single paradigm: the instrumental fuazziu and the plural take i-stem endings, though the dative plural has other endings as well.^[6]

Evidence

The word is attested in all the West Germanic languages: Old English fōt, Old Frisian fōt, Old Saxon fōt, Old Dutch fuot and Old High German fuoz.^[9] Old High German has it from the 8th century,^[6] and Köbler dates the Old Dutch record in the psalms to the 9th century.^[10] De Vaan contrasts the inland Dutch plural with a mutated vowel, from West Germanic *fōt – *fōti, with the coastal dialects, which lack the mutation.^[11] He reports Buccini's explanation: speakers of Proto-Frisian, who had already lost unstressed i, took over the Franconian *fōt – *fōti as *fōt – *fōtǝ, so that no mutated vowel arose in the new coastal dialects.^[12]

Competing analyses

Hogg and Fulk give a Pre-Old English paradigm with *fōt in both the nominative and the accusative singular, where Ringe and Taylor have accusative *fōtu.^[13][1] They allow that feminine root nouns may have taken *-u from the u-stems, or, with Bammesberger, that the nominative singular of all root nouns was replaced by the old accusative, in which -u from *-um was lost after a heavy syllable.^[13]

Meanings

1. foot^[1][2]
2. a unit of length^[2][14]

Old High German also used the word for a hoof, a base or pedestal and a metrical foot,^[6] and Old Frisian for the number of feet of cattle as the basis of a fee.^[14]

Derivatives

• *fōtskamil "footstool", which Wiktionary reconstructs;^[15] Old English, Old Saxon and Old Dutch have the compound.^[16][17][10]
• Wiktionary reconstructs Proto-Germanic *fōtspurą (“footprint”) behind Old English fōtspor;^[18] Orel lists the compound as *fōt(u)-spuran in Old Norse, Old English, Middle Low German and Old High German.^[4]

Reflexes

• Old English: fōt (“foot”)^[16]
• Old Frisian: fōt (“foot; number of feet; a measure of length and area”)^[14]
• Old Saxon: fōt (“foot”)^[19]
• Old Dutch: fuot (“foot”)^[20]
• Old High German: fuoz (“foot, hoof, base, pedestal, metrical foot”)^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 117
2. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *fōt
3. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 152
4. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 110
5. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *fōtu-
6. ^ a b c d e 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. fuoz
7. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 227
8. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 286
9. ^ Boutkan, Dirk; Siebinga, Sjoerd Michiel (2005), Old Frisian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 1, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. fot
10. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard, Altniederfränkisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. fuot
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2018), Historical Development of Dutch: Phonology & Morphology, Dialects & Stages, course reader, Leiden Summer School in Languages and Linguistics, p. 79
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2018), Historical Development of Dutch: Phonology & Morphology, Dialects & Stages, course reader, Leiden Summer School in Languages and Linguistics, p. 84
13. ^ a b Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. 67
14. ^ a b c Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. fōt
15. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *fōtskamil
16. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. fōt
17. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. fōt
18. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *fōtspurą
19. ^ Berr, Samuel (1971), An Etymological Glossary to the Old Saxon Heliand, Berne / Frankfurt: Herbert Lang, p. 139
20. ^ Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org, p. s.v. fuot