*unsar

Reconstruction

Ringe and Taylor reconstruct *unsar for Proto-West Germanic,^[1][2] and Wiktionary has the same form.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *unseraz (“our”),^[2][4] which Köbler also writes *unsaraz.^[5] Orel derives it from *uns- with a comparative suffix,^[4] and Berr likewise sees the Indo-European comparative suffix *-ero-.^[6]

Morphology

A possessive adjective of the first person plural.^[1] As in Proto-Germanic, the genitive of the personal pronouns was supplied by the possessive adjectives, which in Proto-West Germanic were singular *mīn, *þīn, reflexive *sīn, dual *unkar, *inkwar, and plural *unsar, *iuwar.^[1]

Evidence

The word is attested in all the West Germanic languages: Old English ūser, Old Frisian ūse, Old Saxon ūsa, Old Dutch unsa and Old High German unsēr.^[7] Old English, Old Frisian and Old Saxon have lost the nasal before s, while Old Dutch and Old High German keep it.^{[2][8][9][10]} Ringe and Taylor trace *unsar through *ūsær to the Old English form, which is Northumbrian and poetic, and then to ūre.^[2] Boutkan takes the Old West Frisian forms unse and onse for loans from Dutch, given that Old Frisian lost *n before s everywhere.^[8] In de Vaan's table of nasal loss before fricatives, Dutch ons continues *uns and *unsar(-), and is among the words with the nasal lost at least in some dialects.^[11] Old Dutch has unsa in the psalms, which Köbler dates to the 9th century.^[10]

Competing analyses

Ringe and Taylor explain Old English ūre by a change of a long vowel followed by ⟨ser⟩ to a long vowel followed by ⟨re⟩, without an intermediate stage, which also made īsern (“iron”) into īren; since that form does not occur in Northumbrian, they suggest that it was a southern change, and the single early West Saxon dative ūssum suggests that it came after syncope.^[2] They prefer this to the earlier, more complex explanations of īren.^[2]

Meanings

1. our^[2][3]

Reflexes

• Old English: ūser (“our”), later ūre^[7]
• Old Frisian: ūse (“our”)^[12]
• Old Saxon: ūsa (“our”)^[9]
• Old Dutch: unsa (“our”)^[13]
• Old High German: unsēr (“our”)^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 125
2. ^ a b c d e f g Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 339
3. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *unsar
4. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 435
5. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *unsara-, *unsaraz, *unsera-, *unseraz
6. ^ Berr, Samuel (1971), An Etymological Glossary to the Old Saxon Heliand, Berne / Frankfurt: Herbert Lang, p. 430
7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. ūser
8. ^ a b Boutkan, Dirk; Siebinga, Sjoerd Michiel (2005), Old Frisian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 1, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. use
9. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. ūsa
10. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard, Altniederfränkisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. unsa
11. ^ 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. 239
12. ^ Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. ūse
13. ^ Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org, p. s.v. unsa
14. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. unsēr