*paþ

Reconstruction

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

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *paþaz (“path”),^[3][4] which Kroonen cites by its stem *paþa- and Köbler as *paþa-, *paþaz.^[5][6] EWA reconstructs West Germanic *paþ-a-.^[7] Ringe and Taylor take the Proto-Germanic word for a loan from Iranian.^[3]

Morphology

Ringe and Taylor count it among the a-stem nouns, with the Proto-West Germanic plural *paþō continued by Old High German pfada (accusative plural).^[8] Kroonen gives it as masculine or neuter.^[5] In Old High German it is a masculine a- or i-stem and a neuter a-stem, and EWA takes the traces of the i-declension to point to a masculine i-stem.^[7] Old Frisian has it as a neuter.^[9]

Evidence

The noun has direct counterparts only in West Germanic: Old English pæþ, Old Frisian path and Old High German pfad, and Old Dutch has it only in place names, such as ⟨Ūlerepath⟩.^[7] EWA finds the earliest Old High German record in a gloss of the end of the 8th or the beginning of the 9th century;^[7] Middle and Rhine Franconian keep the initial ⟨p⟩ unshifted (⟨pad⟩), while Alemannic mostly has ⟨f⟩ (⟨fád⟩).^[7] Outside West Germanic the word appears only in East Swedish dialects, and the loan Finnish pade (“path, way”) in Finnish shows the i-stem;^[7] EWA takes these to show that the word is old, against the view that it is purely West Germanic.^[7] In Old English the short *a was fronted, so *paþ became ⟨pæþ⟩, but Old Frisian kept ⟨path⟩;^[3] in the Old English plural ⟨paþas⟩ the vowel was retracted before the back vowel of the ending.^[8]

Competing analyses

The origin of the Proto-Germanic word is disputed.^[5][10] Orel takes it for a loan from a dialect of Iranian, following Brøndal and Benveniste, and reports Meid's derivation from Celtic *batos.^[4] Kroonen calls it a West Germanic word without a clear etymology: it may have been taken from an Iranian *pað-, perhaps from Alanic or Sarmatian in the Migration Age, or from Proto-Celtic *bato-, though in the modern Celtic languages that word has shifted to "pass away".^[5] Köbler gives the etymology as unknown.^[6]

Meanings

1. path^[3][2]

Old English also used the word for "track" and "valley",^[11] and Old High German for "way, fixed course".^[7]

Derivatives

• *paþþjan "to step on, to traverse", which Wiktionary reconstructs;^[12] Kroonen sets up *paþjan- for Old English pæþþan (“to traverse”).^[5]
• *paþōn "to walk, to go", which Wiktionary reconstructs;^[13] Kroonen sets up *paþōjan- for Old High German pfadōn (“to go”).^[5]

Reflexes

• Old English: pæþ (“path, track, valley”)^[11]
• Old Frisian: path (“path, way”)^[9]
• Old High German: pfad (“path, way”)^[7]

References

1. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 194
2. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *paþ
3. ^ 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. 147
4. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 291
5. ^ 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. 396
6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *paþa-
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. pfad
8. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 193–194
9. ^ a b Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. path
10. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *paþaz
11. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. pæþ
12. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *paþþjan
13. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *paþōn