*wunskijan

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs *wunskijan for Proto-West Germanic.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *wunskijaną (“to wish”),^[2] which Kroonen cites as *wunskjan- and Orel as *wunskjanan.^[3][4] Kroonen takes it for a jan-verb derived from the noun *wunska- "wish", the source of Old High German wunsk,^[3] and Orel derives it from *wunskō or *wunskaz.^[4] In the prehistory of Old English the nasal was lost before the fricative, with a long nasal vowel left behind: Ringe and Taylor trace *wunskijaną through *wų̄skijan and *wūsċjąn to wȳsċan.^[2]

Morphology

A weak verb of class I.^[5][6]

Evidence

The verb is recorded only in Old English wȳsċan^[7] and Old High German wunsken, the latter in glosses from 765, in Otfrid and in Notker.^[6] Old Frisian, Old Saxon and Old Dutch have no record of it.^[1] Wiktionary reconstructs forms for them from the later languages,^[1] and Kroonen cites Middle Dutch wunscen, wenscen.^[3]

Meanings

1. to wish^[2][1]

Old English also used the verb for "to adopt",^[7] and Old High German for "to long for, to demand".^[6]

Reflexes

• Old English: wȳsċan (“to wish, to adopt”)^[7]
• Old High German: wunsken (“to wish, to long for, to demand”)^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *wunskijan
2. ^ a b c Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 225
3. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 599
4. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 475
5. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wȳscan
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wunsken
7. ^ a b c Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. wyscan