Re: Tudrus

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Brian M. Scott" <bm.brian@...> wrote:

>
> At 4:43:38 AM on Saturday, January 8, 2011, Torsten wrote:
>
> > Da. dial. (Sønderjysk, Schleswig) stå/stær, gå/gær
> > Dutch staan/staat, gaan/gaat
> > German stehen/steht, gehen/geht
> > "stand/stands", "go/goes"
>
> > which make me suspect those two verbs originally umlauted
> > in the 2/3 sg.pres.
>
> They probably did. Apparently they're contracted presents
> in *-ji- ~ *-ja- (from *-ye- ~ *-yo-), with PGmc. outcomes
> *stai- ~ *sta- and *gai- ~ *ga-. The first stem alternant
> ought to appear in the 2/3 sg. pres. (e.g., *staisi,
> *staiþi), the second in the 1/3 pl. (e.g., *stamaz,
> *stanþi). The 2 pl. should have been *staiþ, the inf.
> *stanã, and the 1 sg. *st? (*sto::).
>
> OSax. has very few attestations of either verb, but those
> few seem to show remnants of this reconstruction: 2 sg.
> <stes>; 3 sg. <ged>, <sted>, <steid>; 3 pl. <stad>; inf.
> <gan>, <stan>. (That's the entire list of attested forms.)
>

LG steit, geit is what I heard. More likely seems to me an origin in 'long-vowel verbs', from a kind of impersonal '4sg' in -i alone, cf Greek 3sg pherei, cf Dutch draai-, gooi-, Grm dreh-, NW dial gouw- "turn", "throw", later 'normalized' with a 3sg -t suffix: draait, gooit. I'd venture the same origin for Eng. stay.

It's interesting that even in High German 2pl does not umlaut like 2/3sg, even though it should, historically. It would seem some type of 'alternative' Einheitsplural like that of LG, Dutch and OE was there too to disturb it.


Torsten