*stadi

Reconstruction

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

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *stadiz (“place”),^[3][1][4] which Kroonen cites by its stem *stadi-, Orel as *stađiz and Köbler as *stadi-, *stadiz.^[4][5][6] Through i-umlaut it became *stædi in the prehistory of Old English, which gave Old English stede.^[3] Because the root syllable was light, the final *-i was not lost in Old English, while in the i-stems with a heavy root it was.^[7][1]

Morphology

An i-stem.^[4] Kroonen gives it as masculine or feminine, the gender varying among the languages.^[4] It is a feminine i-stem in Old Saxon and Old High German,^[8][9] masculine in Old English,^[10] and masculine or feminine in Old Frisian.^[11]

Evidence

The noun is attested in all the West Germanic languages: Old English stede, Old Frisian stede, Old Saxon stedi and Old High German stat.^[1] The northern forms keep the final vowel, which Old High German mostly levelled away.^[1] Versloot cites Old Frisian stidi for the survival of *-i after a light syllable, against jest "guest" after a heavy one.^[12] Old Dutch has both: ONW records stad and stede in Williram's commentary of about 1100, and the word in a psalm manuscript of 901–1000,^[13] where the dative is stede.^[14]

Competing analyses

De Vaan compares Dutch stede beside stad "town", from West Germanic *stadi-, with the reflexes of *skapi- "-ship".^[15] For those he reports Marynissen's view that western Dutch treated the stem as light, keeping *-i and its i-mutation, while the east treated it as heavy and lost *-i without mutation.^[15] He himself prefers to explain the front vowel of coastal Dutch by the generalisation of the mutated vowel of the oblique cases, because this lets the reflexes of *skapi- be compared directly with those of *stadi-.^[16]

Meanings

1. place^[3][2]

Old High German also used the word for "town",^[1] Old Frisian for "homestead, town, shore",^[11] and Old English for "position, stability".^[10]

Derivatives

• Orel reconstructs Proto-Germanic *stađi-fastaz "steadfast", with Old English stedefæst.^[17]
• Orel reconstructs Proto-Germanic *kaupa-stađiz "market-place", with Old Saxon kōpstedi and Old High German koufstat.^[18]

Reflexes

• Old English: stede (“place, position, stability”)^[10]
• Old Frisian: stede (“place, homestead, town, shore”)^[11]
• Old Saxon: stedi (“place, spot”)^[19]
• Old Dutch: stat (“place”)^[13]
• Old High German: stat (“place, spot, region, dwelling, town”)^[9]

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. 288
2. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *stadi
3. ^ a b c Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 236
4. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 472
5. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 369
6. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *stadi-
7. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 287
8. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. stėdi
9. ^ a b 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. stat
10. ^ a b c Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. stede
11. ^ a b c Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. stede
12. ^ Versloot, Arjen P. (2019), Reduction of unstressed vowels in Proto-Frisian and the Germanic 'Auslautgesetze', NOWELE 72/1, 78–98
13. ^ a b Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org, p. s.v. stat
14. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Altniederfränkisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. stad
15. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2017), The Dawn of Dutch: Language Contact in the Western Low Countries before 1200, NOWELE Supplement Series 30, Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins, p. 212
16. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2017), The Dawn of Dutch: Language Contact in the Western Low Countries before 1200, NOWELE Supplement Series 30, Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins, p. 213
17. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 368
18. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 211
19. ^ Berr, Samuel (1971), An Etymological Glossary to the Old Saxon Heliand, Berne / Frankfurt: Herbert Lang, p. 378