Germanic Weak Verbs in -on

The immediate occasion for this note is the derivation, by Kurylowicz, of Goth. salb@a from *salb3jif, IE -ayeti; see his article Remarques sur le comparatif, Sprachgeschichte und Wortbedeutung (Festschrift Albert Debrunner) 251-7, specifically 253 lines 2 and 3. This derivation is of course only incidental to Kurylowicz' subject, being intended only to illustrate the possibility of such a contraction in Pre-Germanic (Kurylowicz says 'germanique commun'). As his authority in this matter the author cites Kluge, Urgermanisch 180 (1913). As is well known, the Gothic, Old High German, and Old Icelandic present indicatives of this class show no trace of a y-suffix: Goth. sg. salb5, salb3s, salb5Jb, pl. salb3m, salb3af, salb3nd; OHG sg. salbam, salb3s(t), salbat, pl. salbomes, salbat, salbant; OIcel. sg. kalla, kallar, kallar, pl. kQllum, kallig, kalla. In Old Saxon, forms both with and without the y-suffix exist: sg. salbon, salbos, salbod, pl. salbod and salboiad, inf. salbon afnd salboian. The OE paradigm shows a regular mixing: sg. sealfige, sealfas(t), seqlfad, pl. sealfiag, inf. sealfian; and similarly Old Frisian: sg. salvie, salvast, salvath, pl. salviath, inf. salvia. The view of Kluge, followed by Kurylowicz, is not uncommonly found in our handbooks of the older Germanic dialects. Another view is that denominative

German · Germanic languages · Linguistics · History · Linguistics and language evolution · Philosophy