*felu

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs *felu with two uses, as a pronoun "much, a lot (of)" and as an adverb "much, very".^[1] It continues inherited from Proto-Germanic *felu (“much”),^[2][3] which Kroonen gives as *felu ~ *fulu- and Köbler as *felu-.^[2][4] EWA traces it to Proto-Germanic *felu- "multitude", originally the nominative and accusative singular neuter of a noun u-stem.^[5] The final *-u was kept after the short root syllable, as in Anglian Old English feolu and Old High German filu.^[6] In Old Saxon and Old High German e was raised to i before u in the next syllable, which gave Old Saxon and Old High German ⟨filu⟩.^[7]

Morphology

An indeclinable noun, also used as an adverb.^[5][8] In Old High German, as in the other Germanic languages, it was at first a noun, often with a partitive genitive, and was also used as an adverb; since uninflected adjectives could stand in the predicate, it could be taken for an adjective and used attributively, and only later Middle High German gave it the full adjective inflection.^[5] In Old English it is an indeclinable noun "much, many", Mercian ⟨feolu⟩ and Northumbrian ⟨feolo⟩ ~ ⟨fealo⟩, which West Saxon has in the oblique form fela.^[8] Casaretto too counts the Germanic word among the neuter u-stem nouns.^[9]

Evidence

The word is found in all the West Germanic languages: Old English fela, Old Frisian felo, Old Saxon filo, Old Dutch filo and Old High German filu.^[4] Old High German has it from the 8th century,^[5] and Old Saxon in the Heliand.^[10] In Old Dutch, ONW records the adverb in the Old Low Franconian psalms of the 10th century, and the numeral in Williram's commentary of about 1100 and in the Groningen psalm glosses of 1151–1175, which have the form ⟨fule⟩.^[11]

Competing analyses

EWA reports that Old High German ⟨fulu⟩, in one gloss, is usually taken for a miswriting, but thinks that together with Old Frisian fule it points to a zero-grade Proto-Germanic *fulu.^[5] Bremmer counts this word, "much, many", from *fulu-, among the features that set Old Frisian apart from Old English and Old High German and Old Saxon, which continue *felu-.^[12] Boutkan and Siebinga find the ablaut of the root unclear.^[13] Wiktionary has a separate *fulu as a synonym.^[14]

Wiktionary takes *felu to be originally the neuter singular of an older adjective *feluz "many".^[1] EWA holds instead that the word was originally a noun, and calls the view of Kluge and Pfeifer that it was originally an adjective wrong.^[5]

Meanings

1. much, a lot (of)^[1][5]
2. much, very (as an adverb)^[1][5]

Old English used the word for "many" too,^[8] and in Old High German it also served with adjectives to express the superlative.^[5]

Reflexes

• Old English: fela (“much, very”)^[15]
• Old Frisian: felo (“much”),^[13] and fule (“much, many”)^[16]
• Old Saxon: filu (“much”)^[17]
• Old Dutch: filo (“much, very”)^[11]
• Old High German: filu (“much, great, very”)^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *felu
2. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 136
3. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 98
4. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *felu-
5. ^ 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. filu
6. ^ Schaffner, Stefan (2001), Das Vernersche Gesetz und der innerparadigmatische grammatische Wechsel des Urgermanischen im Nominalbereich, Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft 103, Innsbruck, p. 251
7. ^ Fulk, R. D. (2018), A Comparative Grammar of the Early Germanic Languages, Studies in Germanic Linguistics 3, Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins
8. ^ a b c Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 325
9. ^ Casaretto, Antje (2004), Nominale Wortbildung der gotischen Sprache: Die Derivation der Substantive, Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. filo
11. ^ a b Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org, p. s.v. filo
12. ^ Bremmer, Rolf H., Jr. (2021), Taking stock of Old Frisian studies: 1992–2021, Us Wurk 70, 1–28
13. ^ a b Boutkan, Dirk; Siebinga, Sjoerd Michiel (2005), Old Frisian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 1, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. felo
14. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *fulu
15. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. fela
16. ^ Bremmer, Rolf H., Jr. (2009), An Introduction to Old Frisian: History, Grammar, Reader, Glossary, Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins, p. 196
17. ^ Berr, Samuel (1971), An Etymological Glossary to the Old Saxon Heliand, Berne / Frankfurt: Herbert Lang, p. 126