*willjan

Reconstruction

Ringe and Taylor reconstruct *willjan for Proto-West Germanic, phonemically *wiljan,^[1][2] and Wiktionary has *willjan.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *wiljaną (“to want”),^[1] which Kroonen cites as *weljan- and Orel as *wel(j)anan.^[4][5] West Germanic gemination of the consonant before *j made it *[willjan].^[1] The Proto-Germanic second singular *wilīz "you want" became Proto-West Germanic *wilī with the loss of final *-z,^[6] and the third singular *wilī became *wili, with the shortening of word-final *-ī.^[7][8]

Morphology

An anomalous verb.^[9][10] Kroonen explains the Germanic infinitive in *-jan- as built on the subjunctive, which continues an old optative paradigm.^[4] Ringe and Taylor's Proto-West Germanic paradigm has the infinitive *willjan, the inflected infinitive *willjannjē, the present participle *willjandī, the present indicative *willju, *wilī, *wili (or *wilī), plural *willjum, *wiliþ (or *-īþ), *willjanþ, the present subjunctive *willjē, *willjēs, plural *willjēm, *willjēþ, *willjēn, and the past *weldā, *weldēs or *-ōs, *weldē or *-ā, plural *weldum, *weldud, *weldun; several of these forms they mark as uncertain.^[11] They note that some anomalous verbs are preserved best in West Germanic.^[12]

Evidence

The verb is attested as Old English willan, Old Frisian willa and Old Saxon willian.^[1] Old Saxon willian, third singular wili, past welda, keeps the Proto-West Germanic forms almost unchanged, and West Saxon Old English willan, wile, wolde has only taken the root vowel of the past from sċolde (“should”).^[2] Northumbrian has the third singular wil, by an irregular apocope or after sċeal.^[8] In Old Dutch, ONW records willon in the Old Low and Middle Franconian psalms of the 10th century and in Williram's commentary of about 1100.^[13]

Competing analyses

Ringe and Taylor find a widespread confusion of this verb with its derivative *waljan "to choose" (*[walljan]), which had the past *waldē.^[2] In Old High German the present of "to want" is mostly wellen, from *waljan and identical with the verb "to choose", and only the first singular willu and the second and third singular wili still continue *wil-.^[2] Old Saxon and southern Old English have lost "to choose" altogether, while in Anglian Old English walde became the past of "to want".^[2] They conclude that the two verbs were closely associated in Proto-West Germanic, and suggest that the minor rules relating the present *wiljan to the past *weld- were extended to *waljan, so that a past *wald- replaced the inherited *walid- form.^[14]

Meanings

1. to want^[1][3]

Old English also used the verb for "to wish, to demand", "to be wont" and as an auxiliary of the future,^[15] and Old Saxon also to form periphrastic futures and to express wishes and commands.^[16]

Derivatives

• *willjō "will, wish", which Wiktionary reconstructs from Old English willa, Old Frisian willa, Old Saxon willio and Old High German willo;^[17] Orel derives Proto-Germanic *weljōn from the verb.^[5]
• *walljan "to choose", which Ringe and Taylor take for a derivative of *wiljan;^[2] Kroonen takes Proto-Germanic *waljan- for a causative or factitive of the same root,^[18] and Orel derives *waljanan from the verb.^[19]

Reflexes

• Old English: willan (“to want, to wish, to demand, to be wont”)^[15]
• Old Frisian: willa (“to want”)^[20]
• Old Saxon: willian (“to want, to wish, to intend”)^[16]
• Old Dutch: willon (“to want”)^[13]
• Old High German: wellen (“to want, to wish, to desire”)^[21]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 52
2. ^ 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. 74
3. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *willjan
4. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 578
5. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 453
6. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 43
7. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 14
8. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 371
9. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. willan
10. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. willian
11. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 109–110
12. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 109
13. ^ a b Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org, p. s.v. willon
14. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 74–75
15. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. willan
16. ^ a b Tiefenbach, Heinrich (2010), Altsächsisches Handwörterbuch / A Concise Old Saxon Dictionary, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter, p. s.v. willian
17. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *willjō
18. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 570
19. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 444
20. ^ Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. willa
21. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wellen