*magan

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs the infinitive *magan "to be able, may" for Proto-West Germanic.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *maganą (“to be able”), a preterite-present,^[2][3] which Kroonen cites as *mugan- and Orel by its present *maʒa.^[3][4] EWA reconstructs the Proto-Germanic principal parts *maǥ – *maǥum – *maχtōn.^[5] Ringe and Taylor trace Old English mæġ and Old Frisian mei "(s)he can" to Proto-Germanic *mag, with the fronting of short *a in the northern dialects.^[6]

Morphology

A preterite-present verb.^[7][5] EWA gives the present singular, present plural and past of the daughters as Old English mæg – magon – meahte, Old Frisian mei – mugon – mochte, Old Saxon mag – mugun – mohta and Old High German mag – magun – mahta.^[5]

Evidence

The infinitive has a in Old English magan,^[7] but u in Old Frisian muga, Old Saxon mugan and Old Dutch mugan,^[8][9][10] while Old High German magan also has the form mugan, recorded from the 8th century.^[5] Old Dutch has only the past subjunctive ⟨mohti⟩, glossing Latin forsitan in the Old Low Franconian psalms of the 9th century.^[10] Gamillscheg derives Old French esmaier (“to disturb”), the source of French émoi, from Gallo-Romance *exmagare "to deprive of strength", formed to Frankish *magan, and thinks it hardly a loan made already between West Germanic and Vulgar Latin.^[11]

Competing analyses

EWA holds that the forms with -u- or -o- did not belong to the verb originally, but were formed secondarily in the separate languages by analogy with the preterite-presents of class IV.^[5] Kroonen instead reconstructs a Proto-Germanic third singular *mage beside a third plural *mugunþ, and holds that the dialects took either the a or the u to form their infinitives.^[3]

Meanings

1. to be able, can^[1][3]
2. may^[1]

Old English also used the verb for "to be allowed" and "to help, to avail",^[7] Old Frisian for "to be allowed" and "should",^[8] and Old High German also for "to like".^[5]

Derivatives

• *mahti "might, power", which Wiktionary reconstructs;^[12] Kroonen calls Proto-Germanic *mahti- "strength" a ti-stem derived from the preterite-present,^[13] and Ringe and Taylor reconstruct the Proto-West Germanic accusative plural *mahtį̄, continued by Old Saxon and Old High German mahti.^[14]

Reflexes

• Old English: magan (“to be able, can; may, to be allowed; to help, to avail”)^[7]
• Old Frisian: muga (“to be able; to be allowed; may; should”)^[8]
• Old Saxon: mugan (“to be able, may”)^[9]
• Old Dutch: mugan (“to be able”)^[10]
• Old High German: magan (“to be able, can, may, to like”)^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *magan
2. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *maganą
3. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 373
4. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 252
5. ^ 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. magan
6. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 147
7. ^ a b c d Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. magan
8. ^ a b c Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. muga
9. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. mugan
10. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard, Altniederfränkisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. mugan
11. ^ Gamillscheg, Ernst (1966–1969), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der französischen Sprache, 2nd, fully revised ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 383
12. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *mahtiz
13. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 347
14. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 334