*fimftō

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs *fimftō "fifth" for Proto-West Germanic.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *fimftô (“fifth”),^[1][2] which Kroonen and EWA cite as *fimftan- and Ringe as *fimftō-.^[3][2][4] Kroonen calls it the ordinal belonging to *fimfe "five", whose full-grade root replaced the older form of the ordinal in Germanic.^[3]

Morphology

An ordinal numeral, inflected as a weak adjective: Ringe reconstructs *þridjō- "third" as a weak adjective, and so all the ordinals after it.^[4] The Heliand has the accusative singular masculine fīfton.^[5]

Evidence

The ordinal is attested as Old English fīfta,^[6] Old Frisian fīfta,^[7] Old Saxon fīfto, in the Heliand,^[8][5] and Old High German fimfto, from the 8th century, with the variants finfto, fiunfto and funfto, the last Upper German.^[2] EWA notes that the rounding of i to u is found in the cardinal too, and is no evidence for an old form with u.^[2] Old English, Old Frisian and Old Saxon lack the nasal, like their word for "five": Ringe and Taylor show the loss of a nasal before a fricative, with lengthening and nasalization of the vowel, in *fimf, whose northern forms are Old English fīf, Old Frisian fīf and Old Saxon fīf against Old High German fimf, and call it the most obvious sound change of the northern dialects, one fully shared by Old Saxon.^[9] Middle Dutch has vijfte, vifte and vichte,^[2] and Wiktionary gives the Old Dutch form only as a reconstruction.^[1]

Competing analyses

Ringe and Taylor treat the loss of the nasal as an innovation of the northern dialects, sometimes called Ingvaeonic, and hold that Proto-West Germanic, though for some generations clearly a single language, was probably never completely uniform.^[10] Stiles counts the loss of nasals before fricatives among the Ingvaeonic features, which the traditional approach takes for innovations after Proto-West Germanic, High German being conservative in many respects.^[11]

Meanings

1. fifth^[3][1]

Reflexes

• Old English: fīfta (“fifth”)^[6]
• Old Frisian: fīfta (“fifth”)^[7]
• Old Saxon: fīfto (“fifth”)^[8]
• Old High German: fimfto (“fifth”)^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *fimftō
2. ^ 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. fimfto
3. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 140
4. ^ a b Ringe, Don (2017), From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 320
5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. fīfto
6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. fīfta
7. ^ a b Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. fīfta
8. ^ a b Berr, Samuel (1971), An Etymological Glossary to the Old Saxon Heliand, Berne / Frankfurt: Herbert Lang, p. 125
9. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 139–140
10. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 139
11. ^ Stiles, Patrick V. (2013), The Pan-West Germanic isoglosses and the subrelationships of West Germanic to other branches, NOWELE 66/1, 5–38, p. 18