*farn

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs *farn "fern" for Proto-West Germanic.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *farnaz (“fern”),^[1][2] which Kroonen cites as a masculine *farna-, Orel as a neuter *farnan, and Köbler as *farna-, *farnaz.^[2][3][4] Wiktionary gives both a masculine *farnaz and a neuter *farnam.^[1] EWA explains the name as "feather plant", after the feathery fronds.^[5]

Morphology

An a-stem, neuter in Old English,^[6][7] masculine or neuter in Old Saxon,^[8] and masculine in Old High German.^[5] In Old High German the variant ⟨farm⟩, recorded from the 11th century, came about when the final nasal assimilated to the labial at the start of the word.^[5]

Evidence

EWA notes that the plant names that correspond to Old High German farn are confined to West Germanic: Old Saxon farn, Old English fearn and the Middle Low German, Dutch and East Frisian words.^[5] Old Saxon has it in glosses for Latin filix.^[8] EWA cites no Old Frisian or Old Dutch form.^[5] Versloot notes that Old Frisian does not consistently show fronting of *a before ⟨rn⟩, as in *farn, and that the Erfurt Glossary writes ⟨feran⟩ where the Épinal Glossary has ⟨ea⟩.^[9]

Meanings

1. fern^[1][2]

In Old High German the word usually glosses Latin filix, the shield fern, probably also the polypody, and once ⟨morsus gallinae⟩, a name for plants quite unlike ferns.^[5]

Reflexes

• Old English: fearn (“fern”)^[6]
• Old Saxon: farn (“fern”)^[8]
• Old High German: farn (“fern, shield fern”)^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *farn
2. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 129
3. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 94
4. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *farna-, *farnaz
5. ^ a b c d e f g 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. farn
6. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. fearn
7. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. fearn
8. ^ a b c Tiefenbach, Heinrich (2010), Altsächsisches Handwörterbuch / A Concise Old Saxon Dictionary, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter, p. s.v. farn
9. ^ Versloot, Arjen P (2024), Reconstructing the historical phonology of Old English, English Language and Linguistics (doi 10.1017/S1360674324000674). (UvA-DARE)