*līm

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs *līm "glue" for Proto-West Germanic.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *līmaz (“glue, lime”),^[1] which Kroonen cites by its stem *līma- and Orel as *līman or *līmaz.^[2][3] EWA reconstructs Proto-Germanic *lī-ma-, masculine or neuter, formed with the suffix *-ma- that made verbal abstracts, and sets it in ablaut with West Germanic *lai̯-ma(n)-, the source of Old High German leim "clay".^[4] Kroonen and Orel likewise relate it to the word for "clay", Kroonen's *laiman- and Orel's *laimōn.^[5][3]

Morphology

A masculine a-stem.^[4][6] Kroonen gives the Proto-Germanic noun as masculine or neuter, and Old Norse has it as a neuter.^[2][4]

Evidence

The noun is attested as Old English līm,^[7] Old Frisian līm in Westerlauwers Old Frisian,^[8] Old Saxon līm, glossing Latin bitūmen and glūten in glosses of the 10th and 11th centuries,^[4] and Old High German līm, in many glosses from the second quarter of the 9th century.^[4] EWA infers that the noun is older than its first record, because the verb derived from it already occurs in the Abrogans.^[4] Old Dutch has no record of it.^[4] EWA cites early Middle Dutch lijm from 1240.^[4]

Meanings

1. glue^[1]

Old English also used the word for "mortar",^[7] and Old High German for "bird-lime", "clay, loam" and "pitch".^[4]

Derivatives

• *līmijan "to glue together", which Wiktionary reconstructs;^[1] EWA notes the Old High German weak verb of class I līmen already in the Abrogans.^[4]

Reflexes

• Old English: līm (“glue, mortar”)^[7]
• Old Frisian: līm (“glue”)^[8]
• Old Saxon: līm (“glue”)^[6]
• Old High German: līm (“glue, bird-lime, clay, loam, pitch”)^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *līm
2. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 338
3. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 248
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. lîm
5. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 323
6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. līm
7. ^ a b c Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. lim
8. ^ a b Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. līm