Obviously, *fe-ganx- is supposed to reflect
pre-Verner *fe-xánx-, presumably from regularly reduplicated *fe-fánx-
influenced by forms of *xanx- < PIE *k^onk- 'hang'. The original infinitives
and past participles of both verbs rhymed, so the development of parallel
preterites would not be surprising. I only wonder if there is
sufficient Germanic evidence to posit *fe-xánx- in the first
place.
The usual Old English forms are fôn,
fêng, fêngon, -fangen (exactly parallel to the conjugation pattern of hôn
'hang'). The infinitive derives from contracted *fô(h)an < *fa~x-an- <
*fánx-ana-n; the past participle is the expected fangen < *fang-ana- <
*fanx-aná- (Verner's Law). The only puzzling forms are the preterites. Class VII
verbs in Old English (including residual reduplicated forms) show no contrast
between the preterite stems -- the forms in question had been levelled out
by OE times. The plural fêngon could represent older *fegangun < *fe-xanx-'-,
haplologically contracted. The hypothetical 1/3 sg. *fe-ganx-,
however, would have lost the nasal and become pre-OE *fegôx, so it's fêng
that must be explained as analogical.
The persistent nasal looks as if it were a
root segment rather than a present-tense infix, which means either that the
*pa-n-k^- analysis is wrong or that *pank(^)- was reanalysed as a simplex
morpheme already in pre-Proto-Germanic times.
I can't say more without looking into some
reference books. I'll do that after the Easter break and let you know if there's
more to it.
Regards,
Piotr
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, April 15, 2001 8:48 PM
Subject: [tied] Germanic *fánhan
To the germanic infinitive *fánhan my
etymological dictionary gives a reduplicated imperf. sg. *fe-gánh-. It makes use
of Verner's law to explain the past participle *fanganá/*fanginá (*[h]>*[h]).
But it gives no explanation as to *[g] in the *-gánh- stem with which the
reduplicated imperfect form was made. It says however that gothic imperf. sg.
faifâh reflects a younger *fe-fanh- form. In other germanic languages the *[g]
has spread to other forms by analogy (Ex.: 19. century german inf. fahen, later
fangen).
The dictionary traces the proto-germanic form back to IE *pank´
(with nasalized present stem). Where did the *[g] come from in the first
place?