*sōkijan

Reconstruction

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

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *sōkijaną (“to look for, to seek”),^[1] which Kroonen cites as *sōkjan- and Orel as *sōkjanan.^[3][4] Its root syllable is heavy, so the present stem kept the *-ij- of Sievers' law, which Ringe and Taylor reconstruct as still active in Proto-West Germanic.^[5] West Germanic gemination applied to the *Cj clusters of verbs with light roots, which had *-j-, and so passed this verb by; in their paradigms *sōkijan stands beside *laggjan "to lay", which has the geminate.^[6][7] In the second and third singular the long *-ī- of the heavy-root verbs was replaced by the short *-i- of the light roots, so that Proto-Germanic *sōkīsi, *sōkīþi became *sōkisi, *sōkiþi.^[6][8] Later the sequence *-CijV- was syncopated to *-CjV-, and *sōkijan became *sōkjan, the form behind the attested verbs.^[9]

Morphology

A weak verb of class I.^[10][11] Ringe and Taylor's Proto-West Germanic paradigm has the infinitive *sōkijan, the inflected infinitive *sōkijannjē, the present participle *sōkijandī, the present indicative *sōkiju, *sōkisi, *sōkiþi, plural *sōkijum, *sōkiþ, *sōkijanþ, and the present subjunctive *sōkijē, *sōkijēs.^[7] The past has no connecting vowel: indicative *sōhtā, *sōhtēs or *-tōs, *sōhtē or *-tā, plural *sōhtum, *sōhtud, *sōhtun, subjunctive *sōhtī, past participle *sōht.^[12] The past second and third singular in *-tōs and *-tā were current in the southern dialects.^[12] The Proto-Germanic past *sōhtē "sought" was already one of the irregular past tenses with the cluster *-ht-.^[13][14]

Evidence

The verb is attested in all the West Germanic languages: Old English sēċan, Old Frisian sēka, Old Saxon sōkian and Old High German suohhen,^[1] and Old Dutch suoken, recorded in the Old Low Franconian psalms of the 10th century.^[15]

Competing analyses

Ringe and Taylor date the syncope of *sōkijan to *sōkjan after the northern West Germanic dialects had remodelled the class II weak verbs on class I, since the syncope would have removed the model for that remodelling.^[16] Yet the same syncope is found in Old High German.^[16] They allow that it may have spread through the West Germanic dialect continuum, which was by then breaking up, or that, being a very natural change, it happened independently in several dialects.^[16]

Meanings

1. to look for, to seek^[1][2]

Old English also used the verb for "to visit" and "to attack",^[17] Old Frisian for "to demand" and "to attack",^[18] Old Saxon for "to demand" and "to sue",^[10] and Old High German for "to examine" and "to demand".^[11]

Derivatives

• Wiktionary reconstructs Proto-Germanic *uzsōkijaną (“to seek out”);^[19] Old Saxon and Old Dutch have the prefixed verb.^[10][20]
• Wiktionary reconstructs Proto-Germanic *sōkniz (“seeking, investigation”) behind Old English sōcn;^[21] Orel derives Proto-Germanic *sōkniz from the verb.^[4]

Reflexes

• Old English: sēċan (“to seek, to search, to strive, to visit, to attack”)^[17]
• Old Frisian: sēka (“to seek, to demand, to visit, to attack”)^[18]
• Old Saxon: sōkian (“to seek, to visit, to demand, to sue”)^[10]
• Old Dutch: suoken (“to seek”)^[15]
• Old High German: suohhen (“to seek, to search, to ask, to demand”)^[22]

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. 157
2. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *sōkijan
3. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 464
4. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 360
5. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 106
6. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 70
7. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 108
8. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 296
9. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 156–157
10. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. sōkian
11. ^ a b 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. suochen
12. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 109
13. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 72
14. ^ Ringe, Don (2017), From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 281
15. ^ a b Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org, p. s.v. suoken
16. ^ a b c Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 156
17. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. sēcan
18. ^ a b Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. sēka
19. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *uzsōkijaną
20. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Altniederfränkisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. suoken
21. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *sōkniz
22. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. suohhen