*kuni

Reconstruction

Ringe and Taylor reconstruct the nominative and accusative singular *kuni "clan" for Proto-West Germanic, with the stem *kunnj- in the other forms,^[1] and Wiktionary has the title *kuni.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *kunją (“kin, family, clan”),^[2][3] which Kroonen cites by its stem *kunja-, Orel as *kunjan and Köbler as *kunja-, *kunjam.^[3][4][5] Fulk explains the form: when final *a was lost, a preceding glide became a vowel, so that *kunjan gave Gothic 𐌺𐌿𐌽𐌹 (kuni) and, through *kuni, Old Norse kyn, whose umlaut shows the lost vowel.^[6] In West Germanic the nominative and accusative *kuni was levelled out in favour of the stem *kunnj-, which gave Old English cynn; it survives fossilised in the Old English first element cyne-, as in cynedōm, which Ringe and Taylor take to have first meant "jurisdiction over the clan".^[1] Fulk counts the final vowel of Old Saxon and Old High German kunni as analogically restored, since a high vowel of this origin was regularly lost after a heavy syllable, as Old English shows.^[7]

Morphology

A neuter ja-stem.^[8][9][3] Tiefenbach records Old Saxon forms of both the ja-stems and the i-stems.^[10]

Evidence

The noun is attested in all the West Germanic languages: Old English cynn, Old Frisian ken, Old Saxon kunni, Old Dutch kunni and Old High German kunni.^[3][11] In Old Dutch, ONW records the genitive ⟨cunnis⟩ in the Old Low and Middle Franconian Psalms of 901–1000.^[12] Old High German has it from the 8th century, and EWA also finds the element ⟨Cuni-⟩ in Latin-Germanic and Lombard personal names.^[9]

Meanings

1. clan^[1]
2. family, kin^[2]

Old English also used the word for "kind, sort" and "rank",^[13] Old Saxon for "tribe, people",^[8] and Old High German also for "generation" and for grammatical gender.^[9]

Derivatives

• *kuning "king", in Ringe and Taylor's view originally "leader of the clan": Old English cyning, Old Frisian kening, Old Saxon kuning, Old High German kuning.^[1]
• *manakuni "mankind", which Wiktionary reconstructs from Old English mancynn, Old Saxon mankunni and Old High German mankunni;^[14] Köbler lists the Old Saxon compound with the simple noun.^[8]

Reflexes

• Old English: cynn (“kin, family, kind, rank, people”)^[13]
• Old Frisian: ken (“kin, family, kinship”)^[11]
• Old Saxon: kunni (“descent, progeny, generation, tribe, people”)^[10]
• Old Dutch: kunni (“race, generation, people”)^[15]
• Old High German: kunni (“kin, family, descent, generation, tribe, people”)^[9]

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. 129
2. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *kuni
3. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 311
4. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 224
5. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *kunja-, *kunjam
6. ^ Fulk, R. D. (2018), A Comparative Grammar of the Early Germanic Languages, Studies in Germanic Linguistics 3, Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins, p. 80–81
7. ^ Fulk, R. D. (2018), A Comparative Grammar of the Early Germanic Languages, Studies in Germanic Linguistics 3, Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins, p. 91
8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. kunni
9. ^ a b c d 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. kunni
10. ^ a b Tiefenbach, Heinrich (2010), Altsächsisches Handwörterbuch / A Concise Old Saxon Dictionary, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter, p. s.v. kunni
11. ^ a b Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. ken
12. ^ Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org, p. s.v. kunni
13. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. cynn
14. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *manakuni
15. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Altniederfränkisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. kunni