*rairōn

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs *rairōn "to roar, to bellow; to cry, to wail" for Proto-West Germanic.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *rairōną (“to roar”), which Köbler lists as *rairōn,^[2] though he cites the Old English and Old High German verbs under *rairēn, *rairǣn.^[3] EWA reconstructs a Proto-Germanic weak verb of the third class, with the root ending in *-z- or *-r-; only *-z- is possible if Old High German lūtreisti (“loud-sounding”) and the related compounds belong to the same root.^[4] Holthausen too compares that Old High German word.^[5]

Morphology

EWA takes Old High German rērēn for a weak verb of the third class, on the evidence of a single Middle Franconian rērōn of about 1000 or the mid-11th century, while the dictionaries set it up as a verb of the first class.^[4][6] Old English rārian is a weak verb of class II, and EWA explains it as a former third-class verb that passed into the second class, as such verbs did in Old English.^[4]

Evidence

The Old English verb glosses Latin rugiō,^[7] and the Old High German one, recorded in glosses from the third quarter of the 8th century, glosses bālō and rudō.^[4] EWA adds Middle Low German, Middle Dutch and Saterland Frisian verbs,^[4] and Wiktionary marks the Old Frisian, Old Saxon and Old Dutch forms as unattested.^[1]

Competing analyses

Wiktionary reconstructs a verb of the second weak class, *rairōn,^[1] which matches the Old English verb,^[7] while EWA reconstructs a verb of the third class.^[4]

Meanings

1. to roar, to bellow^[1][2]
2. to cry, to wail^[1]

Old English also used the verb for "to lament",^[5] and Old High German for "to bleat".^[4]

Reflexes

• Old English: rārian (“to roar, to howl, to cry, to lament”)^[5]
• Old High German: rērēn (“to roar, to cry, to bellow, to bleat”)^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *rairōn
2. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *rairōn
3. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *rairēn, *rairǣn
4. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. rêrên
5. ^ a b c Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. rārian
6. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. rēren
7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. rārian