*skuldru

Reconstruction

Ringe and Taylor reconstruct *skuldru "shoulder" for Proto-West Germanic,^[1] and Wiktionary has the same form.^[2] EWA sets up West Germanic *skuldrō(n)-, and *skuldr(ii̯)ō(n)- to include the Old High German forms with a geminate.^[3]

Etymology

Ringe and Taylor list it among the lexemes found only in West Germanic, which are more or less isolated etymologically.^[4] Kroonen calls it a West Germanic word and enters it as *skuldra-, a masculine;^[5] Orel sets up a Proto-Germanic feminine *skulđr(j)ō,^[6] and Köbler *skuldrjō, *skuldrō.^[7] EWA finds no counterparts in the other Indo-European languages, so that its further origin remains uncertain.^[3] Wiktionary gives its origin as unknown.^[2]

Morphology

A noun.^[1] Old English has a masculine,^[8][5] Old High German a feminine.^[3] EWA finds two formations in Old High German, an ō-stem beside a jō-stem shown by the spelling with ⟨-rr-⟩; all the other Germanic forms continue *skuldrō(n)-.^[3] The Old English plural sculdru, unexpected for a masculine, is probably the continuation of an old dual form, like that of duru (“door”).^[3]

Evidence

The noun is attested in Old English sculdor and Old High German scultra,^[1] and in Old Frisian skulder.^[9][5] Old High German has it from the third quarter of the 9th century.^[3] Tiefenbach records a feminine skuldra,^[10] but it is recorded in a Paris manuscript whose glosses some take for Middle Franconian, so that EWA thinks its assignment to Old Saxon uncertain.^[3] The North Germanic words, Old Swedish and Swedish skuldra among them, were borrowed from Middle Low German.^[5][3]

Competing analyses

EWA finds two proposals likely in meaning and formation.^[3] The first takes the word for an instrument noun in *-tro-, *-treh₂- from a root "to split", with the original meaning "digging tool", which assumes that the shoulder blades of animals were once used for digging.^[3] The second joins it to a root "to be bent", which would connect it with Ancient Greek σκέλος (skélos, “leg”); but then the word cannot be an instrument noun, and a root extension or a new root has to be assumed.^[3] EWA thinks a substrate origin, or an old s-stem with *-r- from *-z-, unlikely.^[3] Kroonen also mentions the comparison with the Greek word, but finds the instrumental suffix it implies semantically problematic.^[5] Orel takes it for a zero-grade derivative of Proto-Germanic *skelđuz, *skelđiz "shield",^[6] and Wiktionary names both connections, with the Greek word and with *skeldu "shield".^[2]

Meanings

1. shoulder^[1][2]

Old High German also used the word for "shoulder blade".^[3]

Derivatives

• *skuldrublad "shoulder blade", which Wiktionary reconstructs.^[11]

Reflexes

• Old English: sculdor (“shoulder”)^[8]
• Old Frisian: skulder (“shoulder”)^[9]
• Old Saxon: skuldra (“shoulder”)^[10]
• Old High German: skultira (“shoulder, shoulder blade”)^[3]

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. 127
2. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *skuldru
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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. skultira
4. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 126–127
5. ^ a b c d e Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 450
6. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 345
7. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *skuldrjō, *skuldrō
8. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 285
9. ^ a b Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. skulder
10. ^ a b Tiefenbach, Heinrich (2010), Altsächsisches Handwörterbuch / A Concise Old Saxon Dictionary, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter, p. s.v. skuldra
11. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *skuldrublad