*rōan

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs *rōan "to row" for Proto-West Germanic.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *rōaną (“to row”),^[1][2] which Kroonen cites by its stem *rōan-, Orel as *rōanan and Köbler as *rōan.^[3][4][5] Kroonen takes it for an o-grade intensive verb.^[3]

Morphology

In Old English a strong reduplicating verb of class VII.^[2] Mailhammer counts the Proto-Germanic verb among the reduplicating verbs,^[6] and Kroonen derives the Old Norse past rera from a reduplicated form.^[3] The later continental verbs are weak: Middle Dutch roen, roeyen and Middle High German rüejen.^[3]

Evidence

Of the old West Germanic languages only Old English has the verb, as Old English rōwan, which glosses Latin nāvigō and rēmigō.^[2] For Old Frisian, Old Saxon, Old Dutch and Old High German, Wiktionary gives only reconstructed forms;^[1] the word appears later in Middle Low German, Middle Dutch and Middle High German.^[7][3]

Meanings

1. to row^[1][3]

Old English also used the verb for "to sail" and "to swim".^[2]

Derivatives

• *rōþr "oar", which Ringe and Taylor reconstruct for Proto-West Germanic, citing Old Frisian rōther and Old High German ruodar; they derive Old English rōþor from it;^[8] Kroonen calls the Proto-Germanic noun an instrumental noun derived from the verb, and Orel also derives it from the verb.^[9][10]

Reflexes

• Old English: rōwan (“to row, to sail, to swim”)^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *rōan
2. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. rōwan
3. ^ 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. 414
4. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 306
5. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *rōan
6. ^ Mailhammer, Robert (2007), The Germanic Strong Verbs: Foundations and Development of a New System, Trends in Linguistics 183, Berlin / New York: Mouton de Gruyter, p. 225
7. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. rōwan
8. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 328
9. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 416
10. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 307