*hwaþar

Reconstruction

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

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *hwaþeraz (“which of two?”),^[1] which Kroonen cites by its stem *hwaþera-, and Köbler as *hwaþara, *hweþara.^[3][4]

Morphology

An interrogative pronoun, "which of the two?".^[1][3] In Old English and Old Frisian it is also a conjunction, "whether".^[4][5]

Evidence

The word is attested in Old English hwæþer,^[4] Old Frisian hweder,^[5] Old Saxon hwethar^[6] and Old High German wedar.^[7] Old Dutch has the conjunction wether (“whether”) in the psalms of the 9th century, and niowether (“neither of the two”) in Williram's commentary of about 1100.^[8][9] The Old English form shows the fronting of short *a in the stressed syllable, found in Old English and Old Frisian,^[1] and the fronting of unstressed *a in the northern West Germanic dialects, so that *hwaþar became *hwæþær and then hwæþer.^[10] Ringe and Taylor follow Klein in holding that Old Saxon shared the fronting of unstressed low vowels.^[10]

Meanings

1. which (of two)?^[1][2]

Old English also used the word for "each, one of the two",^[4] Old Frisian for "one of the two",^[5] and Old High German for "who, which".^[7]

Derivatives

• *gahwaþar "both, each of two", which Wiktionary reconstructs from Old English ġehwæþer and its cognates;^[11] Köbler lists the prefixed form in Old English and Old Saxon.^[4][6]

Reflexes

• Old English: hwæþer (“which of two, each, one of two; whether”)^[4]
• Old Frisian: hweder (“which of two, one of two; whether”)^[5]
• Old Saxon: hwethar (“which of two, one of two”)^[6]
• Old Dutch: wether (“whether”)^[8]
• Old High German: wedar (“who, which, which of two; whether”)^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 147
2. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *hwaþar
3. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 264
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. hwæþer
5. ^ a b c d Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. hweder
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. hwēthar
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wedar
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard, Altniederfränkisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wether
9. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Altniederfränkisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. niowether
10. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 152
11. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *gahwaþar