*fallan

Reconstruction

Ringe and Taylor reconstruct *fallan for Proto-West Germanic,^[1] and Wiktionary has the same form.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *fallaną (“to fall”),^[1][3] which Kroonen cites by its stem *fallan- and Orel as *fallanan.^[3][4] In Old English the vowel was fronted and then broken: *fallan > *fællan > West Saxon feallan, Mercian fallan, Northumbrian falla.^[5]

Morphology

A reduplicating strong verb of class VII, with the Old High German past fial, fialun and past participle gifallan.^[6] In Old Frisian the past follows the ablaut of class VI.^[7] Bremmer gives the Old Frisian past plural fōlen.^[8]

Evidence

The verb is attested in all the West Germanic languages: Old English feallan, Old Frisian falla, Old Saxon fallan and Old High German fallan, beside Old Norse falla.^[1] Old High German has it from the 8th century,^[6] and Old Dutch has the past fiel in a psalm manuscript that ONW dates to 901–1000.^[9]

Meanings

1. to fall^[1][2]

Old English also used the verb for "to decay, to die, to attack, to flow",^[10] Old Frisian for "to collapse, to flow, to fall due, to happen",^[11] and Old High German for "to collapse, to sink, to perish, to fall to one's share".^[6]

Derivatives

• *fallattjan "to collapse", which Ringe and Taylor derive from the verb, with the Northumbrian participle falletande "gashing" and Old High German fallezzen; they think the glossators mistook Latin concīdēns "gashing" for concidēns "collapsing".^[1]
• *fallijan "to fell", which Wiktionary reconstructs;^[12] Ringe and Taylor trace late West Saxon Old English fyllan, Mercian ġefællan, Old Frisian fella, Old Saxon bifellian and Old High German fellen to Proto-Northwest Germanic *fallijaną "to make fall, to fell".^[13] Nielsen notes that in Northumbrian the two verbs became falla and fælla, a minimal pair of a and æ.^[14]
• *fall "a fall", which Wiktionary reconstructs;^[15] EWA derives Old High German fal from Proto-Germanic *falla-, *falli-, a verbal abstract of *fallan-.^[16] ONW records the Malberg gloss ⟨acfalla⟩, analysed as "at" and "fall, trap", in the Lex Salica's clause on stealing a bird from a trap, dated 507–768.^[17]
• *bifallan "to fall to, to befall", which Wiktionary reconstructs;^[18] Köbler sets up Proto-Germanic *bifallan, with Old English befeallan, Old Frisian bifalla, Old Saxon bifallan and the Old High German verb.^[19]

Reflexes

• Old English: feallan (“to fall, to decay, to die, to attack, to flow”)^[10]
• Old Frisian: falla (“to fall, to collapse, to sink, to flow, to happen”)^[11]
• Old Saxon: fallan (“to fall, to fall in, to perish”)^[20]
• Old Dutch: fallan (“to fall”)^[9]
• Old High German: fallan (“to fall, to collapse, to sink, to perish”)^[6]

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. 129
2. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *fallan
3. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 125
4. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 91
5. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 185
6. ^ a b c d 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. fallan
7. ^ Seebold, Elmar (1970), Vergleichendes und etymologisches Wörterbuch der germanischen starken Verben, The Hague / Paris: Mouton, p. s.v. fall-a-
8. ^ Bremmer, Rolf H., Jr. (2009), An Introduction to Old Frisian: History, Grammar, Reader, Glossary, Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins, p. 194
9. ^ a b Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org, p. s.v. fallan
10. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. feallan
11. ^ a b Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. falla
12. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *fallijan
13. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 243
14. ^ Nielsen, Hans Frede (1989), The Germanic Languages: Origins and Early Dialectal Interrelations, Tuscaloosa / London: University of Alabama Press, p. 140
15. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *fall
16. ^ 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. fal
17. ^ Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org, p. s.v. falla
18. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *bifallan
19. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *bifallan
20. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. fallan