*harbist

Reconstruction

Ringe and Taylor reconstruct *harbist for Proto-West Germanic,^[1] and Wiktionary has the same form.^[2] EWA sets up West Germanic *χarbista-.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *harbistaz (“autumn, harvest”),^[4][5] which Kroonen cites by its stem *harbista-.^[4] Kroonen takes it for a formation derived from *harbjan- "to pluck".^[4] EWA explains it either as a noun with the suffix *-i/usta- derived from the base seen in Ancient Greek καρπός (karpós, “fruit”), or as derived directly from the verbal root seen in Latin carpō (“to pluck”), so that autumn is either the season marked by the crops or the season in which they are cut.^[3] Ringe and Taylor find the connection with the Latin and Greek words plausible.^[1]

Morphology

A masculine a-stem.^[3][6] Köbler leaves open whether the Old High German noun was an a-stem or an i-stem.^[7]

Evidence

The noun is found in Old English hærfest or herfest, Old Frisian herfst and Old High German herbist.^[1] Old High German has it from the 8th century in glosses and in Notker.^[3] Old Dutch has it only in the compound hervistmānoth, in the Holland and Utrecht names of the months of 1046–1100.^[8] An Old Saxon *hervist is listed in Holthausen's dictionary from the minor texts, but Köbler could not find it there.^[9] Bammesberger argues that the Old English word is Anglian and was borrowed into West Saxon, which explains the apparent lack of breaking in its first syllable, and that the preform *harubist often set up cannot account for it.^[1]

Competing analyses

Ringe and Taylor list *harbist among the lexemes unique to West Germanic, and call the word isolated within Germanic.^[1] Kroonen and EWA connect Old Norse haustr and its Scandinavian relatives.^[4][3] Kroonen derives the Norse word from *harbista- as a distortion of *harbstr after the medial vowel was lost, a dissimilation he compares with Old Norse aumr beside armr;^[4][10] EWA sets up instead a North Germanic *χarusta- with a different suffix vowel.^[3]

Meanings

1. harvest^[1][2]
2. autumn^[4][3]

Old English and Old High German used the word for both "autumn" and "harvest time",^[6][7] and Old Frisian for "autumn".^[11]

Derivatives

• *harbistamānōþ, a month of the Germanic calendar, which Wiktionary reconstructs from Old English hærfestmōnaþ, Old Dutch hervistmānōth and Old High German herbistmānod.^[12]

Reflexes

• Old English: hærfest (“autumn, harvest time”)^[6]
• Old Frisian: herfst (“autumn”)^[11]
• Old High German: herbist (“autumn, harvest time”)^[3]

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. 126
2. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *harbist
3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. herbist
4. ^ a b c d e f Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 210
5. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *harbista-
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. hærfest
7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. herbist
8. ^ Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org, p. s.v. hervistmānoth
9. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *hervist
10. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 35
11. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altfriesisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. herfst
12. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *harbistamānōþ