*hwīt

Reconstruction

Ringe and Taylor reconstruct *hwīt for Proto-West Germanic,^[1] and Wiktionary has the same form.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *hwītaz (“white”),^[1] which Kroonen cites as *hwīta- beside a variant *hwitta-, and Köbler as *hwīta-, *hwītaz or *hweita-.^[3][4] Ringe and Taylor give it as an example of the velar and *w sequences, which usually survived at the start of a word in West Germanic.^[1]

Morphology

An adjective.^[1][5] Old Frisian has hwīt both with a long vowel and with a short vowel and geminate in the stem,^[6][7] and Middle Low German and Middle Dutch wit have the geminate in the inflected forms.^[6]

Evidence

The adjective is attested in all the West Germanic languages: Old English hwīt, Old Frisian hwīt, Old Saxon hwīt and Old High German wīʒ, the last with loss of the h-.^[1] Old Dutch has uuita in the Old Low Franconian psalms of the 10th century and wiz in Williram's commentary of 1100.^[8] Old Frisian also has forms without the h-, and a spelling ⟨whit⟩ in Junius's copies, which Boutkan takes to have stood in the manuscript, perhaps for a voiceless w-.^[6]

Competing analyses

De Vries took the two Proto-Germanic forms *hweit- and *hwitt- for two separate formations, the second with a suffix *-no-.^[6] Holthausen held that, apart from a few Old Saxon forms, those with a short vowel and geminate are younger and arose by analogy with the comparative and superlative, as in Middle English whitter.^[6] Boutkan sides with the derivation of *hwitt- from a form in *-no- by Kluge's law, and allows that *hweit- took its *-t from that form.^[6] Kroonen likewise reconstructs *hwīta- ~ *hwitta-,^[3] takes it for a possible heteroclitic adjective with root ablaut,^[9] and compares *deupa- "deep", which may be built the same way.^[10]

Meanings

1. white^[1][2]

Old English also used the word for "bright, shining, clear" and "beautiful",^[11] Old Saxon for "shining",^[5] and Old High German for "blond".^[12] In Old Frisian it also named a unit of account in the coinage.^[7]

Derivatives

• *hwaitī "wheat": Old English hwǣte, Old High German weiʒi.^[13] Kroonen notes that the word is usually taken to be derived from the adjective.^[14]
• *hwītī "whiteness", *hwītijan "to make white" and *hwītēn "to be or become white", which Wiktionary reconstructs.^[2] Old Saxon has a verb hwīton formed to the adjective.^[5]

Reflexes

• Old English: hwīt (“white, bright, shining, clear, beautiful”)^[11]
• Old Frisian: hwīt (“white”)^[7]
• Old Saxon: hwīt (“white, shining”)^[5]
• Old Dutch: wīt (“white”)^[8][15]
• Old High German: wīz (“white, shining, blond”)^[12]

References

1. ^ 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. 49
2. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *hwīt
3. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 267
4. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *hweita-
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. hwīt
6. ^ a b c d e f Boutkan, Dirk; Siebinga, Sjoerd Michiel (2005), Old Frisian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 1, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. hwit
7. ^ a b c Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. hwīt
8. ^ a b Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org, p. s.v. wīt
9. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 482
10. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 94
11. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. hwīt
12. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wīz
13. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 50
14. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 261
15. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Altniederfränkisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wīt