I was wondering if anybody had any information on the PGmc forms of the suffixes found in Gothic
-hun, and Old English
-gen, Old Norse
-gi, representing
*-hun, and
*-gin, respectively. These suffixes form an indefinite pronoun or adverb, and are often preceded by the negation particle
*ne/*ni, forming constructions like Gothic
ni ainshun, "not anyone, no one". From what I have gathered so far, the form
*-hun seems to represent a pre-Germanic
*-kʷu-ne.
The form
*-gin seems harder to pinpoint however; usually explained as coming from PIE
*-kʷe-ne, but I think this would actually give the PGmc form
*-gwin instead, yes? If so, would that be the actual form of the suffix, then?
I have also considered:
- That it might possibly have received an epenthetic -u-, as did the clitic *-hw, becoming *-uh after consonants I think, which would give a delabialized Pre-Germanic *-ukene, PGmc *-ugin. Which might be evinced by the Old Norse variants hvárigr and hvárugr to hvárgi, "not either, neither".
- That the root for this form was actually PIE particle *gʰi/gʰe, which also seems to have been involved in negation constructions, as Sanskrit ná gha and Old Church Slavonic niže.
Would anyone knowledgeable be able to give their thoughts on these? Also, again, does anyone know of literature on these suffixes?
Thank you for your time.