*alu

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs *alu "beer, ale" for Proto-West Germanic.^[1] Findell notes that a cognate of Old English ealu in Old High German or Old Saxon should regularly have the shape *alu.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *alu (“ale, beer”),^[1] which Kroonen cites as *aluþ-, and Orel and Köbler as *aluþ.^[3][4][5] Kroonen finds no generally accepted etymology for the word.^[3]

Morphology

A neuter noun.^[6][3] Köbler classes the Old English word as a consonant stem,^[7] and Orel describes its Old Norse counterpart as a wa-stem with traces of a root stem.^[4] For the Old Saxon simplex, known only from a compound, Köbler sets up a feminine.^[8]

Evidence

Old English has the noun as Old English ealu, ealo and ealuþ.^[7] Old Saxon has it only in the compound Old Saxon alofat (“beer jug”), in the dative plural ⟨alofatun⟩ in the Heliand,^[9] and Findell names Old High German elofaz (“ale vat”) as another such compound.^[2] Wiktionary gives no Old Frisian form and only an unattested Old Dutch one.^[1]

The South Germanic runic corpus has three ⟨alu⟩ inscriptions, on the ring-sword pommels of Grenay and Saint-Dizier in northern France, of about 535–560, where the first rune is restored, and on the small gold pendants of Hüfingen in Baden-Württemberg, of about 585–610.^[10][11][12] Düwel, Nedoma and Oehrl read them as Proto-Norse *alu "defence(?)", a protective formula.^[10][11][12] They leave these inscriptions out of their account of the South Germanic spelling system for that reason.^[13] The reading ⟨(i)igalu⟩ on the brooch of Hohenstadt, of about 580, is unclear, and its runes are not certain.^[14] Findell regards the Hüfingen pendants as probably inspired by Scandinavian models, but finds no sign of import on the Saint-Dizier pommel or the Hohenstadt brooch.^[2]

Competing analyses

Whether the runic formula ⟨alu⟩ is the word for "ale" is disputed.^[2][12] Krause connected it with Old Norse ǫl (“beer, ale”) and Old English ealu, and, through a link with Hittite words for magic, took its basic meaning to be "ecstasy";^[2] another view connects it with Old English ealgian (“to protect”).^[2] Düwel, Nedoma and Oehrl reject the Hittite comparison, report that Heizmann separates ⟨alu⟩ from the word for beer and holds its origin unexplained, and deny any link between the formula and the "ale runes".^[12]

The Proto-Germanic form is also reconstructed differently: Wiktionary sets up *alu, from an earlier *álut,^[1] while Kroonen, Orel and Köbler write it with a final *-þ, which the Old English variant ealuþ shows.^[3][4][7]

Meanings

1. beer, ale^[1][6]

Derivatives

• Orel reconstructs Proto-Germanic *aluþ-xūsan "alehouse", from Old English ealuhūs and Old Norse ǫlhús.^[15]

Reflexes

• Old English: ealu (“beer, ale”)^[6]
• Old Saxon: only in the compound alofat (“beer jug, drinking vessel”)^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *alu
2. ^ a b c d e f Findell, Martin (2012), Phonological Evidence from the Continental Runic Inscriptions, Ergänzungsbände zum Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde 79, Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter
3. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 23
4. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 16
5. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *aluþ
6. ^ a b c Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. ealu
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. ealu
8. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. alo
9. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. alofat
10. ^ a b Düwel, Klaus; Nedoma, Robert; Oehrl, Sigmund (2020), Die südgermanischen Runeninschriften, 2 vols, Ergänzungsbände zum Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde 119, Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. SG-43
11. ^ a b Düwel, Klaus; Nedoma, Robert; Oehrl, Sigmund (2020), Die südgermanischen Runeninschriften, 2 vols, Ergänzungsbände zum Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde 119, Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. SG-103
12. ^ a b c d Düwel, Klaus; Nedoma, Robert; Oehrl, Sigmund (2020), Die südgermanischen Runeninschriften, 2 vols, Ergänzungsbände zum Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde 119, Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. SG-54
13. ^ Düwel, Klaus; Nedoma, Robert; Oehrl, Sigmund (2020), Die südgermanischen Runeninschriften, 2 vols, Ergänzungsbände zum Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde 119, Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 3.3
14. ^ Düwel, Klaus; Nedoma, Robert; Oehrl, Sigmund (2020), Die südgermanischen Runeninschriften, 2 vols, Ergänzungsbände zum Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde 119, Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. SG-53
15. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 17