*hurnutu

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs *hurnutu "hornet" for Proto-West Germanic,^[1] and EWA sets up West Germanic *χurnuta- behind Old High German hornuz and Old Saxon hornut.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *hurnuta- (“hornet”),^[1][3] which Kroonen cites as *hurnuta-, *-ō-, masculine and feminine.^[3] He takes it for a formation made to the Proto-Indo-European root of Latin crābrō (“hornet”) by adding the animal suffix *-ut(a/ō)-, also found in *albut- "swan" and *heruta- "stag".^[3][4][5] EWA too sees in the West Germanic word the reflex of the suffix *-ta- with a vowel before it, used in names of animals.^[2]

Morphology

Old Saxon has a masculine a-stem hornut beside a feminine ō-stem horneta.^[6][7] Old High German hornuz is a masculine a-stem, rarely a neuter one.^[2] The Old English word is a feminine jō-stem,^[8] and Kroonen derives this feminine hyrnet(e/u) from *hurznutjō- through *hürnūttū.^[3]

Evidence

The word is attested in Old English as hyrnetu, hyrnet and hyrnete, glossing Latin crabro,^[8] in Old Saxon glosses as hornut and horneta, for the same Latin word,^[6][7] and in Old High German as hornuz, in many glosses from the second half of the 8th century, for Latin crabro, oestrus and vespa.^[2] Holthausen takes the English word hornet to be shaped after horn.^[9] Kroonen adds Middle Low German hornte and Middle Dutch hornete, hornte, hoornte.^[3]

Meanings

1. hornet^[1][3]

In Old High German the word also glossed Latin words for the gadfly and the wasp.^[2][10]

Reflexes

• Old English: hyrnetu (“hornet”)^[9][8]
• Old Saxon: hornut (“hornet”), horneta^[11][7]
• Old High German: hornuz (“hornet”)^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *hurnutu
2. ^ a b c d e f 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. hornuz
3. ^ a b c d e f Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 259
4. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 20
5. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 223
6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. hornut
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. horneta
8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. hyrnetu
9. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. hyrnet
10. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. hornuz
11. ^ Tiefenbach, Heinrich (2010), Altsächsisches Handwörterbuch / A Concise Old Saxon Dictionary, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter, p. s.v. hornut