*stirniju

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs *stirniju "forehead" for Proto-West Germanic,^[1] and EWA sets up West Germanic *stirnii̯ō(n)-.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *sternjō (“forehead”),^[3] which EWA writes *sternii̯ō[n]-.^[2] EWA finds the etymology uncertain, because the West Germanic word has no other cognates.^[2] It is usually traced to a pre-Proto-Germanic *sterh₃-n-i̯eh₂-, a derivative of the root "to spread out", so that the forehead would be named for its broad surface; the nearest words are then Ancient Greek στέρνον (stérnon, “breast, heart”) and Slavic words meaning "side, region, land".^[2]

Morphology

Old High German stirna is a feminine ō-stem or n-stem.^[2][4]

Evidence

The word is recorded as Old High German stirna in glosses from about 1100, for Latin frons;^[2] as its other West Germanic correspondents EWA lists Middle Low German stērne and Middle Dutch sterne, the latter found only in the Lower Rhine area.^[2] Old English steornede, glossing Latin frontalis, is usually put with this group as "having a large forehead", and Köbler does so;^[2][5] but Meritt showed that this word and the form ⟨steorrede⟩ survive in Middle English as "sterned" and "sterred", "marked with a star", used of the markings of horses, so EWA puts them with the word for "star" instead.^[2]

Competing analyses

Wiktionary calls the origin uncertain: besides a Proto-Germanic *stirnijō related to Ancient Greek στέρνον (stérnon), it allows that the word was metathesized from *striniju, from a Proto-Germanic *strinijō cognate with Latin frōns (“forehead”) and related to Old Norse strind (“side”).^[1] Kluge's dictionary takes the original meaning to be "the front part", because of the Greek word;^[2] EWA finds this hardly convincing, since in Homer the Greek word is always used of a man's chest.^[2]

Meanings

1. forehead^[1][3]

Reflexes

• Old High German: stirna (“forehead”)^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *stirniju
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. stirna
3. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *sternjō
4. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. stirna
5. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. steornede