*walljan

Reconstruction

Ringe and Taylor reconstruct the verb "to choose" as *waljan, phonetically *[walljan], and elsewhere write *walljan, the form Wiktionary has.^[1][2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *waljaną (“to choose”),^[4][5] which Kroonen cites as *waljan- and Orel as *waljanan.^[4][6] Ringe and Taylor take it for a derivative of *wiljan "to want",^[1] Kroonen for a causative or factitive verb,^[4] and Wiktionary forms it from Proto-Germanic *wiljaną with the suffix Proto-Germanic *-janą.^[5]

Morphology

A weak verb of class I.^[7] Ringe and Taylor reconstruct the past *waldē, with no *-i- before the suffix, preserved almost unchanged in Old High German walta beside welita.^[1] They explain it by analogy: the minor rules that related the present *wiljan "to want" to its past *wel-d- were extended to *waljan, and a past *wald- replaced the inherited *walid-; this loss of *-i- then spread to most of the verbs that rhymed with *waljan.^[8] They compare the way the new past of *wakjan "to wake" later spread to verbs of similar shape.^[9]

Evidence

The verb survives only in the continental languages:^[1] Old High German wellen "to choose", in the Abrogans of the early 9th century,^[7] and Old Dutch wellen "to choose", in the past uuelida glossing Latin elegit in the psalms of the 9th century.^[10] Ringe and Taylor find that Old Saxon and southern Old English lost "to choose" completely; in Anglian Old English the past walde became the past of "to want", and some present forms in ⟨well-⟩ may once have belonged to "to choose", though they are more likely back-formations from the past.^[1] Old Frisian seems to resemble Anglian.^[1] Even in Old High German, which keeps both verbs, the present of "to want" is mostly wellen, homonymous with "to choose",^[1] and its plural has been replaced by that of "to choose".^[2] Ringe and Taylor conclude that the two verbs were closely associated in Proto-West Germanic.^[1]

Competing analyses

Köbler derives the Old Dutch verb from Proto-Germanic *weljan "to want",^[10] while Wiktionary lists it as a reflex of *walljan.^[3]

Meanings

1. to choose^[1][3]
2. to pick, to select^[3]

Reflexes

• Old Dutch: wellen (“to choose”)^[10]
• Old High German: wellen (“to choose, to select, to elect”)^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 74
2. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 111
3. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *walljan
4. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 570
5. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *waljaną
6. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 444
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wellen
8. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 75
9. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 99
10. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard, Altniederfränkisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wellen