*wirkijan

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs *wirkijan "to work, to make" for Proto-West Germanic.^[1]

Etymology

In its account the verb is inherited from Proto-Germanic *wirkijaną (“to make, to work”),^[1] which Köbler writes *wirkjan.^[2] Kroonen reconstructs a Proto-Germanic mixed strong and weak verb *werkjan-, past *warht-, for the Old Frisian, Old Saxon and Old High German forms, beside the zero-grade *wurkjan- behind Old English wyrċan and Old High German wurchen.^[3] Ringe and Taylor say that the Old Saxon present, and some Old Frisian and Old High German forms, appear to reflect a Proto-West Germanic *wirkijan, which could only be a denominative formed to the noun *werk.^[4]

Morphology

A weak verb of class I.^[5][6] All the forms that seem to reflect *wirkijan have the inherited irregular past and past participle: Old Frisian wrochte, Old Saxon warhta with an unexpected a, and Old High German worhta.^[4]

Evidence

The verb is attested in Old Frisian wirza,^[7] Old Saxon wirkian,^[5] Old High German wirken,^[8] and Old Dutch wirken in the Old Low Franconian psalms of the 10th century.^[9] Köbler lists ⟨wircan⟩ and ⟨wercan⟩ among the spellings of Old English wyrċan,^[10] and Wiktionary counts the Old English verb among the descendants of *wirkijan;^[1] but Ringe and Taylor derive the Old English verb from Proto-West Germanic *wurkijan,^[11] and find that the innovation was centred on the Old Saxon area and left Old English and southern Old High German untouched.^[4]

Competing analyses

Ringe and Taylor explain the inherited past of the verb in two ways: either two verbs were conflated, or native learners took the present stem of *wurkijan for a denominative and changed its shape to fit.^[4] They hold that Old Saxon wirkian was probably remodelled as if it were regularly derived from the noun.^[11] Kroonen, by contrast, reconstructs the e-grade verb for Proto-Germanic,^[3] and Wiktionary derives Proto-Germanic *wirkijaną from the noun *werką with the suffix *-janą.^[12]

Meanings

1. to work, to make^[1]

Old Saxon also used the verb for "to prepare", "to build" and "to perform",^[5] and Old Frisian for "to build" and "to repair".^[7]

Derivatives

• *gawirkijan "to do, to accomplish", which Wiktionary reconstructs;^[13] Old Saxon has the prefixed verb.^[6]

Reflexes

• Old Frisian: wirza (“to work, to build, to repair”)^[7]
• Old Saxon: wirkian (“to work, to act, to make, to build”)^[5]
• Old Dutch: wirken (“to work, to do”)^[9]
• Old High German: wirken (“to work, to do, to make, to accomplish”)^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *wirkijan
2. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *wirkjan
3. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 600
4. ^ a b c d Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 208
5. ^ a b c d Tiefenbach, Heinrich (2010), Altsächsisches Handwörterbuch / A Concise Old Saxon Dictionary, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter, p. s.v. wirkian
6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wirkian
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altfriesisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wirza
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wirken
9. ^ a b Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org, p. s.v. wirken
10. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wyrcan
11. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 157
12. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *wirkijaną
13. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *gawirkijan