*slahan

Reconstruction

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

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *slahaną (“to hit, to kill”),^[3][4] which Kroonen cites by its stem *slahan- and Orel as *slaxanan.^[4][5] Ringe and Taylor derive the Proto-West Germanic infinitive *slahan, present indicative third plural *slahand and present subjunctive third singular *slahē from Proto-Germanic *slahaną, *slahandi and *slahai.^[6] In the line leading to Old English the vowel was fronted and then broken before *h, which was later lost with lengthening of the vowel: *slahan > *slæhan > *sleahan > West Saxon and Mercian Old English slēan.^[3][1]

Morphology

A strong verb of class VI.^[7][8] Old High German has the past sluog, plural sluogun, and the past participle gislagan beside gislahan.^[8] Ringe and Taylor derive the Old English present from remodelled *slahą̄þ and *slahǣ, while Old High German slahant and slahe continue *slahand and *slahē.^[6]

Evidence

The verb is attested in all the West Germanic languages: Old English slēan, Old Frisian slā, Old Saxon slahan, Old Dutch slān and Old High German slahan.^[4][9] Old Dutch has the past sluogi "you struck" in the Old Low and Middle Franconian Psalms, which ONW dates to 901–1000 and Köbler to the 9th century.^[10][9] Old High German has the verb from the 8th century, in the Abrogans and other glosses.^[8]

Competing analyses

Ringe and Taylor take Old English slēan for the crucial evidence that *a was fronted in Old English and later retracted before a back vowel, since the vowel of *slahan must have been fronted for breaking to apply to it.^[1] Its Old Frisian cognate slā shows no breaking and seems to continue *slahan with the vowel unchanged.^[11] Kortlandt rejects the fronting and retraction: in his view the vowel of the Old English verb is not the regular outcome of *slahan by fronting and breaking, but was generalised from other forms of the paradigm, such as the third singular *slæohiþ and the subjunctive *slæohe, to the infinitive.^[12] Old Frisian, with the third singular sleith beside the infinitive, keeps the original distribution of front and back vowels.^[12]

Meanings

1. to hit, to strike^[6][2]
2. to kill^[3][2]

Old English also used the verb for "to throw" and "to stab",^[13] Old Frisian for "to coin" and "to fetter",^[14] and Old High German for "to slaughter".^[15]

Derivatives

• *slagi "blow, stroke", from Proto-Germanic *slagiz: Old Frisian slei, Old Saxon slegi, Old High German slag.^[16] Kroonen takes the i-stem for a derivative of the verb.^[4]
• *abslahan "to knock off; to kill", which Wiktionary reconstructs from Old English ofslēan and its cognates;^[17] Köbler lists the prefixed verb among the Old English compounds.^[18]

Reflexes

• Old English: slēan (“to strike, to throw, to stab, to break, to kill”)^[13]
• Old Frisian: slā (“to strike, to kill, to coin”)^[14]
• Old Saxon: slahan (“to strike, to kill”)^[7]
• Old Dutch: slān (“to strike”)^[10]
• Old High German: slahan (“to strike, to slay, to kill, to slaughter”)^[15]

References

1. ^ a b c Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 189
2. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *slahan
3. ^ a b c Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 177
4. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 452
5. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 348
6. ^ a b c Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 315
7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. slahan
8. ^ a b c 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. slahan
9. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard, Altniederfränkisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. slān
10. ^ a b Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org, p. s.v. slān
11. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 198
12. ^ a b Kortlandt, Frederik (1999), The origin of the Old English dialects revisited, Amsterdamer Beiträge zur älteren Germanistik 51, 45–51
13. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. slean
14. ^ a b Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. slā
15. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. slahan
16. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 289
17. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *abslahan
18. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. sléan