*liudi

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs *liudi "man, person; men, people" for Proto-West Germanic,^[1] and de Vaan writes the West Germanic plural as *liudi-.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *liudiz (“man; people”),^[1] which Kroonen cites as *leudi-, Orel as *leuđiz and EWA as *leu̯đi-.^[3][4][5] Kroonen calls it an i-stem shared with Baltic and likely derived from the verb *leudan- "to grow",^[3] and Orel also derives it from that verb.^[4] EWA compares Lithuanian liáudis (“common people”) and the Slavic words for "people".^[5]

Morphology

An i-stem.^[6][5] Old High German has the noun as a masculine or feminine i-stem and as a neuter a-stem.^[5] EWA explains the singular as a collective formed to the plural *leu̯đ-ei̯-es in the older Germanic languages.^[5] Old Saxon keeps the plural liudi beside a collective singular liud.^[6][7]

Evidence

The word is attested in all the West Germanic languages: Old English lēode, Old Frisian liōde, Old Saxon liudi, Old Dutch liud and Old High German liut.^[5] Its oldest records are in the Malberg glosses of the Salic law, which ONW dates 507–768 and gives under liudi in the spellings ⟨leodi⟩, ⟨leode⟩, ⟨leodo⟩, ⟨leoti⟩ and ⟨leude⟩, in clauses fixing the fines for killing.^[8] De Vaan glosses the frequent ⟨leode⟩ "weregeld" and notes that it is never spelled with ⟨iu⟩, but concedes that the forms in ⟨leod-⟩ may be latinized after Medieval Latin leudis (“weregeld”).^[9] EWA finds the word from 517 in the laws of the Burgundians in this Latin form, plural ⟨leudes⟩, a legal term for the free men under a ruler, in the Frankish realm the higher free men close to the king.^[5] It also cites Lombard personal names with the word as their first part, such as Lombardic Liutprand.^[5] In Early Middle Dutch, de Vaan finds a vowel ⟨ie⟩ in Flanders, Zealand and West Brabant and ⟨uu⟩ in Holland, Utrecht, East Brabant and Limburg.^[2]

Competing analyses

Wiktionary puts Old English lēod (“man, prince”) under this word,^[1][10] but Kroonen derives the Old English word for "man" and Old Norse ljóðr from a plain a-stem *leuda-, beside the i-stem *leudi-.^[3] Boutkan and Siebinga likewise trace the Old Frisian neuter liōd (“people, crowd”) to Proto-Germanic *leuda-, and the plural liōde to Proto-Frisian *liūdi.^[11] Kroonen also notes the o-grade *lauda- "man", the source of Gothic 𐌾𐌿𐌲𐌲𐌰𐌻𐌰𐌿𐌸𐍃 (juggalauþs, “young man”).^[12]

Meanings

1. man, person^[1][3]
2. (in the plural) men, people^[1][3]

Kroonen suggests that the word first meant the unbound common people, in view of its link with Greek and Latin words for "free".^[3] Old High German used it for a person, a member of a people, a crowd and the subjects of a ruler, and in the pair formula lant ioh liuti "land and people".^[5]

Reflexes

• Old English: lēode (“people”)^[13]
• Old Frisian: liūde (“people, persons; the body of persons with legal rights”)^[14]
• Old Saxon: liudi (“people, persons”)^[6]
• Old Dutch: liud (“people, persons”)^[15]
• Old High German: liut (“person, people, crowd, subjects”)^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *liudi
2. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2017), The Dawn of Dutch: Language Contact in the Western Low Countries before 1200, NOWELE Supplement Series 30, Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins, p. 459
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. 332
4. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 242
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. liut
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. liudi
7. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. liud
8. ^ Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org, p. s.v. liudi
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2017), The Dawn of Dutch: Language Contact in the Western Low Countries before 1200, NOWELE Supplement Series 30, Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins, p. 96
10. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. lēod
11. ^ Boutkan, Dirk; Siebinga, Sjoerd Michiel (2005), Old Frisian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 1, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. liod
12. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 328
13. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. lēode
14. ^ Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. liūde
15. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Altniederfränkisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. liud