*warnōn

Reconstruction

Ringe and Taylor reconstruct *warnōn for Proto-West Germanic,^[1] and Wiktionary has the same form.^[2] It continues inherited from Proto-Germanic *warnōną (“to warn”), which Ringe and Taylor set up for Proto-Northwest Germanic,^[1] Orel as *warnōjanan and Köbler as *warnōn.^[3][4] Before *r and a consonant the pre-Old English *æ underwent breaking, and with the remodelled *wærnōjan the verb became Old English wearnian.^[1]

Morphology

A weak verb of class II.^[5][6] Old Saxon uses it as a reflexive verb.^[6]

Evidence

The verb is attested as Old English wearnian,^[7] Old Frisian wernia,^[8] the Old Saxon infinitive warnian,^[6] and Old High German warnōn.^[1] In Old Dutch, ONW has the past warnet "warned" from the Middle Franconian Rhyme Bible of 1151–1200.^[9] Green counts the verb among the Germanic words best attested in Romance, as in Old French garnir, which meant "to warn", "to protect" and "to equip"; he thinks it may have been used by Germanic mercenaries.^[10]

Competing analyses

Ringe and Taylor reconstruct a separate Proto-West Germanic *warnijan (“to refuse, to deny”), the source of Old Frisian werna, Old Saxon wernian and Old English wiernan, derived from *warnu "refusal".^[11] Green postulates both *warnjan and *warnôn behind the Romance words.^[10] Gamillscheg derives French garnement from Old French garnir, which he takes from Frankish *warnjan (“to refuse, to take care”); he finds it unnecessary to assume a crossing of the ō-verb with French fournir, since Old Saxon secures the -j- derivative.^[12]

Meanings

1. to warn^[1][2]

Old English also used the verb for "to guard" and "to beware, to abstain",^[7] Old Saxon for "to take care",^[6] Old Frisian for "to give pledges" and "to guard against",^[8] and Old High German also for "to protect", "to prepare" and "to equip".^[5]

Reflexes

• Old English: wearnian (“to warn, to guard, to beware, to abstain”)^[7]
• Old Frisian: wernia (“to give pledges, to guard against”)^[8]
• Old Saxon: warnōn (“to take care”)^[6]
• Old Dutch: warnon (“to warn”)^[9]
• Old High German: warnōn (“to warn, to protect, to prepare, to equip”)^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 180
2. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *warnōn
3. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 449
4. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *warnōn
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. warnōn
6. ^ a b c d e Tiefenbach, Heinrich (2010), Altsächsisches Handwörterbuch / A Concise Old Saxon Dictionary, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter, p. s.v. warnon
7. ^ a b c Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. wearnian
8. ^ a b c Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. wernia
9. ^ a b Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org, p. s.v. warnon
10. ^ a b Green, D. H. (1998), Language and History in the Early Germanic World, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 191
11. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 242
12. ^ Gamillscheg, Ernst (1966–1969), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der französischen Sprache, 2nd, fully revised ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 497