*flauh

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs a noun *flauh "flea" for Proto-West Germanic.^[1] The form *flauh that Ringe and Taylor print is a different word, the Proto-Germanic past tense "(s)he fled".^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *flauhaz (“flea”),^[1][3] which Köbler also writes *þlauha-.^[3] EWA sets up Proto-Germanic *flawχa-, with variant stems in *-an- and *-ō-, and takes the word to mean properly "one that jumps up", from the verb Old High German fliohan (“to flee”).^[4]

Morphology

A masculine a-stem in Old High German,^[4][5] and in Old English masculine or feminine.^[6]

Evidence

The noun is recorded as Old English flēah, glossing Latin pulex,^[6] Old Saxon flōh in glosses,^[7] and Old High German flōh, in glosses from the 9th century on.^[4] In Old Dutch, ONW has it only as a byname, ⟨Walterus Flo⟩, in the Liber Traditionum Sancti Petri Blandiniensis.^[8] EWA cites no Old Frisian form, only modern East Frisian and West Frisian ones.^[4] Old Norse has fló,^[4][9] while the other North Germanic languages use a different word, as Swedish loppa.^[4]

Competing analyses

EWA connects the noun with the verb "to flee", a link already made by Fischart in 1577.^[4] Wiktionary calls its origin uncertain: perhaps a folk-etymological or tabooistic replacement of an older word for "flea", reshaped under the influence of Proto-Germanic *fleuhaną (“to flee”).^[10]

Meanings

1. flea^[1][4]

Reflexes

• Old English: flēah (“flea”)^[6]
• Old Saxon: flōh (“flea”)^[7]
• Old High German: flōh (“flea”)^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *flauh
2. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 309
3. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *flauha-
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. flôh
5. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. flōh
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. fléa
7. ^ a b Tiefenbach, Heinrich (2010), Altsächsisches Handwörterbuch / A Concise Old Saxon Dictionary, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter, p. s.v. flōh
8. ^ Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org, p. s.v. flo
9. ^ de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 132
10. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *flauhaz