*treu

Reconstruction

Ringe and Taylor reconstruct *treu, stem *trew-, with the nominative and accusative plural *treu, for Proto-West Germanic,^[1] and Wiktionary has *treu.^[2] It continues inherited from Proto-Germanic *trewą (“tree, wood”),^[1][3] which Kroonen cites by its stem *trewa-, Orel as *trewan and Köbler as *trewa-, *trewam.^[3][4][5] With the loss of *-az and *-ą in Proto-West Germanic, the stems in *-ewa- acquired a nominative and accusative singular in *-eu without an ending.^[1] Fulk likewise describes the *w as forming a diphthong when it came to stand at the end of the word, in *trewan > *treu.^[6] Ringe and Taylor also give, with a double query, a nominative singular *treu for a different word, *treuwō "faith, agreement".^[7]

Morphology

A neuter wa-stem.^[8][9] The Proto-Germanic nominative and accusative plural *trewō also became *treu; in Old English the regular outcomes were later obscured by levelling, as in trēo(w), stem treow-, and the Northumbrian dative plural trewum.^[1]

Evidence

The word is attested in Old English trēo, Old Frisian trē and Old Saxon trio.^[1][3] Old Saxon has it twice in the Heliand, as ⟨trio⟩ and ⟨treo⟩.^[8] Kroonen lists no Old Dutch or Old High German form,^[3] and Köbler gives Old High German only a reconstructed *trio in a compound.^[10] Van Helten traces the Malberg gloss ⟨treuuidio⟩ to an adjective formed from *treu-, describing a stag "wearing a wooden foot-fetter", and explains the Vulgar Latin loanwords ⟨triutis⟩ of the Ripuarian law and ⟨treudis⟩ of the Alamannic law, a fetter put on a tame stag, as a compound of *treu- with a word for "band, fetter".^[11]

Competing analyses

Wiktionary lists Old High German affoltra (“apple tree”) among the descendants of *treu.^[2] EWA rejects Jacob Grimm's explanation of the element ⟨-dr-⟩, ⟨-tr-⟩ of such tree names as a mutilated form of Germanic *trewa- "tree", because of the -d- and the shape of the Scandinavian and Old English forms, and because no trace of the *u or *w is found.^[12]

Meanings

1. tree^[1][2]
2. wood^[1][2]

Old English also used the word for "forest", "beam", "stick, pole" and "cross",^[13] and Old Saxon for "beam".^[8]

Derivatives

• *triwīn "wooden": Ringe and Taylor trace Proto-Germanic *triwīnaz "wooden" to Proto-West Germanic *triwīn, remodelled in pre-Old English as *triowīn after the stem treow-, the source of late West Saxon trywen.^[14]

Reflexes

• Old English: trēo (“wood, tree, forest, beam, stick, pole, cross”)^[13]
• Old Frisian: trē (“tree”)^[15]
• Old Saxon: trio (“tree, beam”)^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 174
2. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *treu
3. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 522
4. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 409
5. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *trewa-
6. ^ Fulk, R. D. (2018), A Comparative Grammar of the Early Germanic Languages, Studies in Germanic Linguistics 3, Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins, p. 72
7. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 66
8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. trio
9. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altfriesisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. trē
10. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *trio?
11. ^ van Helten, Willem Lodewijk (1900), Zu den malbergischen Glossen und den salfränkischen Formeln und Lehnwörtern der Lex Salica, Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur 25, 225–542, p. 420–421
12. ^ 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. affoltra
13. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. treo
14. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 188
15. ^ Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. trē