*þrāan

Reconstruction

Ringe and Taylor reconstruct *þrāan "to twist" for Proto-West Germanic,^[1] and Wiktionary has the same form.^[2] It continues inherited from Proto-Germanic *þrēaną (“to twist, to turn”),^[3][4] which Orel cites as *þrēanan and Köbler as *þrēan, *þrǣan, *þrējan;^[3][4] Kroonen derives the noun for "thread" from the strong verb *þrēan-.^[5] EWA sets up *þrējan- as the source of the West Germanic verbs.^[6] Ringe and Taylor describe the change of Proto-Germanic *ē to *ā throughout Northwest Germanic, which they illustrate with the parallel verb *sēaną "to sow", Proto-Northwest Germanic *sāaną; for that verb they note that the West Germanic forms have new consonants which removed the hiatus between the vowels.^[7]

Morphology

In West Germanic the verb is mostly weak: Orel calls it a weak verb in West Germanic,^[3] and EWA classes Old High German drāen as a weak verb of class I.^[6] Old English þrāwan, however, is a strong reduplicating verb of class VII,^[8] with the past ðrēow that EWA cites,^[6] and Mailhammer counts the Proto-Germanic verb among the reduplicating verbs.^[9]

Evidence

The verb is attested as Old English þrāwan, as Old Saxon thrāian, which glosses Latin rotare at the end of the 10th century,^[10] and as Old High German drāen, recorded from the 8th century in glosses and in Notker and Williram.^[6] Ringe and Taylor list it among the secure examples in which Old English kept the *ā unfronted before ⟨w⟩, where Old Saxon has the form ⟨thrājan⟩;^[1] they take the simplest hypothesis, following Hogg, to be that fronting never took place in this environment.^[1] EWA notes Old High German variants with a consonant filling the hiatus, ⟨h⟩, ⟨g⟩ and ⟨i⟩.^[6]

Competing analyses

Which inflection is older is disputed.^[6] EWA reports that Matzel took the strong inflection of Old English for the original one and explained the weak past of these verbs by analogy with verbs that had a participle in *-to-;^[6] Thórhallsdóttir objected that such participles are normally lacking in these verbs, and that the weak past būde "lived" shows that a weak past could be formed without one.^[6]

Meanings

1. to twist^[1][2]
2. to turn^[3][11]

Old English also used the verb for "to torment",^[8] and Old High German for "to round" and "to turn on a lathe".^[6]

Derivatives

• Kroonen and Orel derive Proto-Germanic *þrēduz (“thread”) from the verb, the source of Old English þrǣd, Old Frisian thrēd and Old High German drāt;^[5][3] Orel adds Old Saxon thrād.^[3]

Reflexes

• Old English: þrāwan (“to turn, to twist, to torment”)^[8]
• Old Saxon: thrāian (“to turn”)^[10]
• Old High German: drāen (“to turn, to twist, to round”)^[6]

References

1. ^ 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. 151
2. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *þrāan
3. ^ a b c d e f Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 426
4. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *þrēan
5. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 546
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. s.v. drâen
7. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 12
8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. þrāwan
9. ^ Mailhammer, Robert (2007), The Germanic Strong Verbs: Foundations and Development of a New System, Trends in Linguistics 183, Berlin / New York: Mouton de Gruyter, p. 226
10. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. thrāian
11. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *þrēaną