*klimban

Reconstruction

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

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *klimbaną (“to climb”),^[3] which Kroonen cites as *klimman- ~ *klimb/pan- "to clamp; to climb".^[3] Ringe and Taylor list it among the noteworthy words of West Germanic that are more or less isolated etymologically.^[4]

Morphology

A strong verb of class III.^[5][6] Ringe and Taylor give the Old English past as clam, plural clumbon,^[1] and EWA the Old High German past as klamb, klumbun, past participle giklumban.^[6]

Evidence

Ringe and Taylor name Old English climban and Old High German klimban, both rare.^[1] EWA has the Old High German verb from the 9th century, in glosses and one other text, and notes that in Old Frisian it passed into the weak class as Old Frisian klimma.^[6]

Competing analyses

Kroonen sets up a Proto-Germanic strong verb that varies between *klimban-, *klimman- (with the regular assimilation of *-mbn- to *-mm-) and *klimpan- (by Kluge's law); Old English has both climban and climman.^[3] EWA instead takes the Germanic verb for an old n-infixed present to the root of Old High German klîban (“to stick”), with the nasal carried through the whole paradigm.^[6] Wiktionary calls it possibly a nasalized variant of Proto-Germanic *klībaną (“to stick, to cleave”).^[7]

Meanings

1. to climb^[1][2]

Kroonen holds that the meaning "to climb", dominant in all the material, developed from older "to clasp" and "to clamp".^[3] EWA derives it from "to stick", comparing Swiss German, where the Old High German verb klenan (“to stick”) also came to mean "to climb".^[6] Old High German used the verb for climbing a mountain and for reaching the pole of heaven.^[6]

Reflexes

• Old English: climban (“to climb”)^[8]
• Old Frisian: klimma (“to climb”)^[9]
• Old High German: klimban (“to climb, to ascend”)^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 127
2. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *klimban
3. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 293
4. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 126–127
5. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. climban
6. ^ 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. klimban
7. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *klimbaną
8. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. climban
9. ^ Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. klimma