*fleugā

Reconstruction

Ringe and Taylor reconstruct *fleugā "(a) fly" for Proto-West Germanic,^[1] and Wiktionary has the same form.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *fleugǭ (“fly”),^[3][4] which Kroonen cites as *fleugōn-, Orel as *fl(e)uʒōn and Köbler as *fleugō-, *fleugōn.^[3][4][5] Kroonen and Orel derive it from the verb Proto-Germanic *fleuganą (“to fly”).^[3][4] In Mercian and Northumbrian Old English the diphthong was monophthongized before the velar, so that West Saxon flēoge stands beside flēge.^[1]

Morphology

A feminine n-stem.^[6] In Old High German the noun has both ō-stem and n-stem forms, but clearly strong inflection only in Notker's single nominative plural ⟨fliegâ⟩ and perhaps in one gloss.^[7]

Evidence

The noun is attested as Old English flēoge,^[8] Old Saxon flioga, glossing Latin scinifes in an 11th-century glossary,^[9] and Old High German flioga, from the 8th century in Notker and glosses.^[7] Old Dutch has it only as a byname, ⟨Flige⟩, in the Liber Traditionum of St Peter's at Ghent, in 1155.^[10] Debrabandere, cited by ONW, takes it for the occupational name of a man who hunted with birds, otherwise it is a nickname after the insect.^[10]

Competing analyses

Old Norse fluga has the zero grade of the root.^[3] EWA traces Old English flēoge to *flewōn- and flȳge to *flewijōn-, and suggests that an ablauting n-stem paradigm *flewōn-, *flun-, levelled to *fluōn-, lay behind the forms.^[7] Schaffner allows that the word may show old ablaut, *fleugōn- beside *flugōn-, but notes that one grade could be due to the strong verb "to fly", and that no daughter continues a form with assimilated *-kk-, such as *flukkōn-, which an old ablauting paradigm would lead one to expect.^[11]

Meanings

1. fly^[1][2]

Old High German also used the word for a gnat or a horsefly.^[12]

Reflexes

• Old English: flēoge (“fly”)^[8]
• Old Saxon: flioga (“fly”)^[9]
• Old Dutch: fliega (“fly”)^[10]
• Old High German: flioga (“fly, gnat”)^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 309
2. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *fleugā
3. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 146
4. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 106
5. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *fleugō-
6. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. fléoge
7. ^ 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. flioga
8. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. fleoge
9. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. flioga
10. ^ a b c Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org, p. s.v. fliega
11. ^ Schaffner, Stefan (2001), Das Vernersche Gesetz und der innerparadigmatische grammatische Wechsel des Urgermanischen im Nominalbereich, Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft 103, Innsbruck, p. 372–373
12. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. flioga