*sunu

Reconstruction

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

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *sunuz (“son”),^[1][3] which Kroonen cites by its stem *sunu- and Orel as *sunuz.^[3][4] With the loss of final *-z the nominative *sunuz and the accusative *sunų merged in *sunu.^[5] Stiles counts this loss of final *-z in words of more than one syllable, with Old English and Old High German sunu against Gothic 𐍃𐌿𐌽𐌿𐍃 (sunus) as his example, among the shared innovations of the West Germanic languages.^[6] The genitive singular *sunauz became Proto-West Germanic *sunō, as all remaining diphthongs in unstressed syllables became long mid vowels.^[7]

Morphology

A masculine u-stem.^[8][9] Ringe and Taylor's Proto-West Germanic paradigm has the singular *sunu, *sunu, genitive *sunō, dative *suniwi or *-ō, instrumental *sunu, and the plural *suniwi or *-ō, *sunų̄, genitive *suniwō (perhaps *-awō), dative *sunum; the forms in *-ō and *-aw- belonged to the northern dialects.^[10] Hogg and Fulk trace the Old English paradigm to an early Proto-Germanic one with the same endings on heavy and light stems.^[11]

Evidence

The noun is attested in all the West Germanic languages: Old English sunu, Old Frisian sunu, Old Saxon sunu and Old High German sunu.^[12] In Old Dutch, ONW records suno in the Utrecht baptismal vow of 791–800, the Old Low and Middle Franconian psalms of the 10th century and later texts.^[13] Old Saxon has the genitive suno possibly at Heliand line 5788.^[7][14] In Old High German the oldest texts keep the u-stem sunu, but after the loss of the final -u the word passed entirely into the i-stems as sun.^[9]

Competing analyses

Ringe and Taylor see in this word a division of the West Germanic dialects before the loss of *-i in third syllables.^[15] Old High German keeps the dative singular ending as ⟨-iu⟩, but Old English and Old Frisian have suna in the genitive singular, the dative singular and the nominative plural alike.^[15] Rather than a spread of the genitive ending, they prefer to suppose that the sequence *-iw- in the u-stem endings was replaced by *-aw- very early in the northern West Germanic dialects, as partly in Gothic.^[15]

Meanings

1. son^[1][2]

Old English also used the noun for "descendant" and "young of an animal".^[16]

Derivatives

• *swestersunu "sister's son", which Wiktionary reconstructs;^[17] Old English has sweostorsunu, and Köbler compares Old Frisian and Old High German compounds.^[18]

Reflexes

• Old English: sunu (“son, descendant, young”)^[16]
• Old Frisian: sunu (“son”)^[19]
• Old Saxon: sunu (“son”)^[14]
• Old Dutch: suno (“son”)^[13]
• Old High German: sunu (“son”)^[9]

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. 43
2. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *sunu
3. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 492
4. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 388
5. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 55
6. ^ Stiles, Patrick V. (2013), The Pan-West Germanic isoglosses and the subrelationships of West Germanic to other branches, NOWELE 66/1, 5–38, p. §5.1
7. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 60
8. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. sunu
9. ^ 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. sun
10. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 115
11. ^ Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. §2.74
12. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 30
13. ^ a b Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org, p. s.v. suno
14. ^ a b Tiefenbach, Heinrich (2010), Altsächsisches Handwörterbuch / A Concise Old Saxon Dictionary, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter, p. s.v. sunu
15. ^ a b c Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 57
16. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. sunu
17. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *swestersunu
18. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. sweostorsunu
19. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altfriesisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. sunu