*uʀ-

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs the prefix *uʀ-,^[1] and Ringe and Taylor write it *uz- in the Proto-West Germanic verb *uz-teuhan.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *uz- (“out”),^[2][3] which Orel and Kroonen give as the preposition *uz "out (of)".^[4][5] Ringe and Taylor keep *z because they hold that its merger with *r happened independently in Norse and in West Germanic, and cannot be ascribed to Proto-West Germanic with confidence.^[6]

Morphology

A prefix, found with nouns and verbs.^[7] Boutkan and Siebinga explain its two shapes by stress: in the North Sea languages the *-z was lost in the unstressed prefix of verbs, as in Old Saxon ahebbian and Old English āhebban, against Old High German arheffen (“to lift up”), but kept as ⟨r⟩ in stressed forms, as in Old Saxon urdēli, Old English ordāl and Old Frisian ordēl, Old High German urteil (“judgment”).^[7] They take the vowel of the unstressed prefix to have been short, since Old High German kept *z as ⟨r⟩ only after a short vowel in such monosyllables, and they see in its variants ⟨ir-⟩ and ⟨ar-⟩ a weakening of the vowel rather than old ablaut.^[7]

Evidence

The prefix is found in all the West Germanic languages: Old English or- and ā-,^[8][9] Old Frisian ur- and or-,^[10] Old Saxon ur-, or- and ā-,^[11] Old Dutch ur- and ir-,^[12] and Old High German ur-, ir- and ar-.^[13] Ringe and Taylor cite Proto-Germanic *uz rais "it rose", continued in Old Saxon, Old High German and Old English ārās,^[14][15] and Proto-West Germanic *uz-teuhan "to lead out", continued by Old High German irziohan (“to raise (a child), to educate”) and Old English ātēon (“to draw out, to remove”).^[2]

Meanings

1. up, out^[1]

With verbs the prefix meant "out" or "forth" in Old Saxon and Old High German,^[11][13] and Old English or- also had the sense "without, -less".^[16][8]

Reflexes

• Old English: or-, unstressed ā-^[8][9]
• Old Frisian: ur-, or-, unstressed a-^[7]
• Old Saxon: ur-, or-, unstressed ā-^[11]
• Old Dutch: ur-, ir-^[12]
• Old High German: ur-, ir-, ar-^[13]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *uʀ-
2. ^ a b c Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 315
3. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *uz-
4. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 436
5. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 563
6. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 82
7. ^ a b c d Boutkan, Dirk; Siebinga, Sjoerd Michiel (2005), Old Frisian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 1, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. or-
8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. or-
9. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. ā-
10. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altfriesisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. or-
11. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. ur
12. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard, Altniederfränkisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. ur-
13. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. ur
14. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 170
15. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. ā-
16. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. or-