*feuwar

Reconstruction

Ringe and Taylor reconstruct *feuwar for Proto-West Germanic,^[1] and Wiktionary has the same form.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *fedwōr (“four”),^[1][3] for which Köbler also gives *fedur and *fidur, and a West Germanic *fewar.^[4] Following Stiles, Ringe and Taylor derive it through an intermediate *fewwār: the most unusual sound change shared by all the West Germanic languages assimilated the intervocalic sequences *zw and *dw to *ww.^[1] There is really only one example of each cluster, but they hold the change virtually certain because the words involved are so basic.^[1] The final syllable shows two further West Germanic changes: the unrounding of bimoric *ō to *ā, and the later shortening of vowels before a word-final *-r in unaccented syllables; that the shortening followed the unrounding is shown by the outcome of "four".^[5]

Morphology

A cardinal numeral.^[6][7] Ringe and Taylor think that the only form of "four" to survive into Proto-West Germanic was the nominative-accusative *feuwar, and that the i-stem endings of "three" were extended to it and then to the numerals up to "nineteen".^[8] EWA describes the same system in the daughters: the numeral is usually uninflected before a noun, but takes the endings of the i-stem nouns when it follows the noun or stands as a noun, as in Old Saxon fiori in the Heliand.^[7]

Evidence

The numeral is attested as Old English fēower, Old Frisian fiūwer and Old Saxon fiuwar,^[1] while Old High German fior has been backformed to the ordinal fiordo (“fourth”).^[1] Old Saxon also has the shorter forms fior, fiar and fier,^[9] and Old Frisian has fiar- as the first part of compounds.^[7] In Old Dutch, ONW records compounds such as Old Dutch fiertig (“forty”) in the Middle Franconian Rhyme Bible.^[10] In the Malberg glosses of the Lex Salica the numeral appears as the first part of ⟨fitter-thuschunde⟩ "four thousand".^[7]

Competing analyses

Fulk reports a derivation of the West Germanic form from a stem *fexwár- by Verner's law, giving *feʒwar- and then *w after *e; he finds it more economical to derive *feuwar from *feðwar, earlier *feðwōr, with Stiles, and to take Old High German fior and Old Saxon fior from the ordinal.^[11] He also notes that Mottausch reconstructs *feuwar- without *ʒ, explaining the loss of the dental by analogy with the ordinal.^[11] EWA considers that, if *feđwar survived for a time beside *fewur, a form *fewar could have arisen, and *feuwar as a cross of *feur and *fewar.^[7] For the Old Frisian combining form fiar-, Boutkan and Siebinga report Stiles's view that *feuwar- was assimilated to *feuwir- and then *fiuwir- as a result of the i-stem inflection of the numeral.^[12]

Meanings

1. four^[1][2]

Derivatives

• *feurþō "fourth", *feuwartehun "fourteen" and *feuwar tigiwi "forty", which Wiktionary reconstructs;^[2] Old Saxon has the ordinal fiortho.^[9]

Reflexes

• Old English: fēower (“four”)^[6]
• Old Frisian: fiūwer (“four”)^[13]
• Old Saxon: fiuwar (“four”)^[9]
• Old High German: fior (“four”)^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 41
2. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *feuwar
3. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 133
4. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *fedwōr
5. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 59–60
6. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. fēower
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. fior
8. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 121
9. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. fiuwar
10. ^ Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org, p. s.v. fiertig
11. ^ a b Fulk, R. D. (2018), A Comparative Grammar of the Early Germanic Languages, Studies in Germanic Linguistics 3, Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins
12. ^ Boutkan, Dirk; Siebinga, Sjoerd Michiel (2005), Old Frisian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 1, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. fiar-
13. ^ Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. fiūwer