*fratredan

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs *fratredan "to tread upon, to trample" for Proto-West Germanic.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *fratrudaną (“to trample”),^[2] which Köbler writes *fartrudan and derives from the prefix *far- and *trudan.^[3] Wiktionary analyses the West Germanic verb as *fra- and *tredan.^[1] Köbler likewise explains the Old English and Old High German verbs from their prefixes and the simple verbs Old English tredan and Old High German tretan.^[4][5] Ringe and Taylor note that the verb *trudaną "to tread", with zero grade in Proto-Germanic, is continued in Proto-West Germanic as *tredan, with the default vowel of the present stem, one of a few regularizations of strong verb paradigms that they ascribe to Proto-West Germanic.^[6] Kroonen sets up the Proto-Germanic verb as *tredan- ~ *trudan- "to tread, to trample",^[7] while Orel takes *tređanan for a secondary thematic e-grade remake of *truđanan.^[8]

Morphology

A strong verb of class V in Old English, Old Frisian and Old High German.^[4][9][5]

Evidence

The verb is recorded in Old English fortredan, in glosses on Latin comprimō, conculcō and opprimō,^[4] and in Old High German firtretan, found in glosses from the end of the 8th century and in Notker, Otfrid and Tatian.^[5] Köbler heads the Old Frisian verb fortreda "to transgress" with an asterisk.^[9] Wiktionary gives the Old Saxon and Old Dutch verbs only as reconstructions, and it sets Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐍄𐍂𐌿𐌳𐌰𐌽 (fratrudan) beside the West Germanic verbs.^[1][2]

Meanings

1. to tread upon, to trample^[1][3]

Old English used the verb for "to tread down",^[4] Old High German also for "to crush", "to oppress", "to mock" and "to resist",^[5] and Old Frisian for "to transgress".^[9]

Reflexes

• Old English: fortredan (“to tread down, to trample down”)^[4]
• Old Frisian: fortreda (“to transgress”)^[9]
• Old High German: firtretan (“to tread down, to crush, to oppress”)^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *fratredan
2. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *fratrudaną
3. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *fartrudan
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. fortredan
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. firtretan
6. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 78
7. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 521
8. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 409
9. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altfriesisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *fortreda