*folk

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs *folk for Proto-West Germanic.^[1] It continues inherited from Proto-Germanic *fulką (“troop, tribe”),^[2][3] which Ringe and Taylor write as Proto-Northwest Germanic *fulką, Orel as *fulkan and Köbler as *fulka-.^[2][4][3] Ringe and Taylor give the word as an example of the lowering of *u to *o when the next syllable contained a nonhigh vowel.^[2] They also list it among the words beside a labial fricative in which the lowering took place, although in some words of similar shape, such as *fullaz "full", it failed in northern West Germanic.^[5] The Proto-West Germanic loss of word-final unstressed *a and *ą affected especially the singular endings of the a-stems in the direct cases, as in *hurną "horn" > *horn.^[6]

Morphology

A neuter a-stem in Old English, Old Frisian and Old Saxon;^[7][8][9] in Old High German it is masculine and neuter.^[10]

Evidence

The word is attested in all the West Germanic languages: Old English folc, Old Frisian folk, Old Saxon folk and Old High German folk,^[2] and Old Dutch folk, recorded as ⟨folc⟩ for Latin populus in the Old Low Franconian psalms and as ⟨uolc⟩ in the Middle Franconian Rhyme Bible of 1151–1200.^[11][12] Old Saxon has it in the Heliand,^[9] and Old High German from the 8th century in glosses and in texts such as Isidor, Tatian and Otfrid.^[10] EWA lists Lombardic fulcfree (“folk-free, freeborn”), which has the word as its first part.^[10] The Reichenau Glosses, written in northern France, have ⟨fulcos⟩ for Latin turmas;^[10] ONW dates the gloss to 750.^[12] Kluge took this *fulcus for a loan from Gothic, but EWA, following Klein-Raupach, thinks a loan from an Old Low Franconian *fulk more likely, since the Romance words are found only in a small area.^[10] Gamillscheg derives Old French fouc (“herd”) from Frankish *folk (“troop, crowd”).^[13]

Competing analyses

Ringe and Taylor label the word Proto-Northwest Germanic because it has no cognates outside Germanic and is not attested in Gothic.^[14] EWA infers its existence in East Germanic from personal names.^[10]

Meanings

1. troop, army^[2][1]
2. people, tribe^[2][1]

Old English also used the word for a crowd and a band of warriors,^[7] and Old High German for a cohort and a population.^[10]

Derivatives

• *fulkijan "to assemble people, to muster troops", which Wiktionary reconstructs from Old English and Old High German verbs.^[15]
• Wiktionary reconstructs Proto-Germanic *harjafulką (“men of war”);^[16] Orel lists the compound in Old English herefolc and Old Frisian hirifolk.^[17]

Reflexes

• Old English: folc (“people, tribe, crowd, troop, army”)^[7]
• Old Frisian: folk (“people; host, troop”)^[18]
• Old Saxon: folk (“people, crowd”)^[9]
• Old Dutch: folk (“people”)^[12]
• Old High German: folk (“people, tribe, crowd, troop, army”)^[19]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *folk
2. ^ a b c d e f Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 28
3. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *fulka-, *fulkam
4. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 117
5. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 32–33
6. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 45
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. folc
8. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altfriesisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. folk
9. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. folk
10. ^ 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. folc
11. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Altniederfränkisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. folk
12. ^ a b c Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org, p. s.v. folk
13. ^ Gamillscheg, Ernst (1966–1969), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der französischen Sprache, 2nd, fully revised ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 470
14. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 33
15. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *fulkijan
16. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *harjafulką
17. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 162
18. ^ Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. folk
19. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. folk