*gān

Reconstruction

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

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *gāną (“to go”),^[3] which Kroonen cites as *gēn- and Orel as *ʒēnan.^[4][5] Ringe and Taylor take the inherited present stem of Proto-Germanic and Proto-West Germanic to have been *gai- ~ *gā-, from pre-Proto-Germanic *gaji- ~ *gaja-, with a first singular present *gau (?) from Proto-Germanic *gaō < *gajō, and with other complications due to the loss of *j between vowels.^[3]

Morphology

An anomalous verb.^[6][1] Ringe and Taylor's Proto-West Germanic paradigm has the infinitive *gān, the inflected infinitive *gānijē (?), the present participle *gāndī, the present indicative second singular *gaisi, third *gaiþi, plural *gām, *gaiþ, *gānþi, and the imperative *gai, *gaiþ; they leave the subjunctive open.^[7] There is no inherited past: Old High German uses the past of the strong verb gangan, while Old English has the suppletive weak past ēode.^[8] Ringe and Taylor call the past of "go" a largely unsolvable mystery and connect ēode with the stem of the Gothic past.^[9] Old English has the past participle ġegān.^[10]

Evidence

The verb is attested in Old English gān, Old Frisian gān and Old Saxon gān, and as Old High German gān beside gēn.^[4] Old Dutch has gān in psalms of the 9th century,^[11] and ONW records the infinitive ⟨gen⟩ and the third plural ⟨geent⟩ in Williram's commentary of about 1100.^[12] Old Frisian has the third singular present ⟨geet⟩ and the imperative plural ⟨gaet⟩.^[13] The Old English present has gā, gǣs, gǣþ in the singular, gāþ in the plural.^[14]

Competing analyses

Ringe and Taylor explain the Old English forms by a stem *gā- with the normal strong present endings, levelled through the paradigm after *ai had become *ā but before i-umlaut, which left the third singular, the basic form and the source of the stem, and the second singular untouched; they find this better grounded than Hogg and Fulk's solution.^[9] Fulk notes that West Germanic *ʒǣn should have given Old English and Old Frisian *gōn, which is why a stem *ʒai- is usually set up beside *ʒǣ-, yet there is no very plausible parallel to such a stem outside Anglo-Frisian.^[15] He argues instead from the verse of Old English, where the stem is two syllables with a light first syllable, for thematized present forms with a short root vowel, which would also account for the two present stems side by side in Old High German, gān and gēn.^[15] Hogg and Fulk likewise find a stem *gai- unnecessary: the athematic endings were replaced by thematic ones, as in dōn, and the vowel of *gǣ-an was shortened in West Germanic.^[16]

Kroonen derives Old High German gān and gēn from an athematic present *gēmi, *gēsi, *gēþi, but holds that Old English gān can only come from *gai-, which would imply an i-present; he also considers, after Kluge and Kortlandt, that *gai- arose from the perfective prefix *ga- and *-ī-, the continuant of a root meaning "to go".^[4]

Meanings

1. to go^[1][2]

Old English also used the verb for "to happen",^[17] and Old High German also for "to walk", "to come" and "to extend".^[18]

Derivatives

• *furigān "to pass by, to pass away", which Wiktionary reconstructs:^[19] Old English forgān "to pass by, to go away"^[20] and Old Frisian forgān "to pass, to happen".^[21]
• *ūtgān "to go out", which Wiktionary reconstructs:^[22] Old English ūtgān, beside Old High German ūzgān.^[23]

Reflexes

• Old English: gān (“to go, to move, to happen”)^[17]
• Old Frisian: gān (“to go”)^[13]
• Old Saxon: gān (“to go”)^[6]
• Old Dutch: gān (“to go”)^[12]
• Old High German: gān (“to go, to walk, to come”)^[18]

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. 109
2. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *gān
3. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 370
4. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 174
5. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 133
6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. gān
7. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 109–110
8. ^ Fulk, R. D. (2018), A Comparative Grammar of the Early Germanic Languages, Studies in Germanic Linguistics 3, Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins, p. §12.62
9. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 371
10. ^ Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell
11. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Altniederfränkisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. gān
12. ^ a b Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org, p. s.v. gān
13. ^ a b Bremmer, Rolf H., Jr. (2009), An Introduction to Old Frisian: History, Grammar, Reader, Glossary, Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins, p. 197
14. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 370–371
15. ^ a b Fulk, R. D. (2018), A Comparative Grammar of the Early Germanic Languages, Studies in Germanic Linguistics 3, Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins, p. §12.63
16. ^ Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. §6.157
17. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. gān
18. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. gān
19. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *furigān
20. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. forgān
21. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altfriesisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. forgān
22. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *ūtgān
23. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. ūtgān