Table Of ContentA Linguistic History of English
Volume I
From Proto-Indo-European
to Proto-Germanic
for Emma and Lucy
From Proto-Indo-
European to
Proto-Germanic
DON RINGE
1
3
GreatClarendonStreet,Oxfordox26dp
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Contents
ListofAbbreviations vii
Acknowledgements ix
NoteonTranscription x
1 Generalintroduction 1
2 Proto-Indo-European 4
2.1 Introduction 4
2.2 PIEphonology 6
2.2.1 PIEobstruents 7
2.2.2 PIEsonorantsandhighvowels 9
2.2.3 PIEnonhighvowels 10
2.2.4 PIEphonologicalrules 11
2.2.5 PIEaccent 21
2.3 PIEinflectionalmorphology 22
2.3.1 PIEinflectionalcategories 22
2.3.2 Formalexpressionofinflectionalcategories 26
2.3.3 PIEverbinflection 27
2.3.4 PIEnouninflection 41
2.3.5 PIEadjectiveinflection 50
2.3.6 TheinflectionofotherPIEnominals 52
2.4 PIEderivationalmorphology 58
2.4.1 Compounding 58
2.4.2 PIEderivationalsuffixes 60
2.5 PIEsyntax 64
2.6 ThePIElexicon 65
3 ThedevelopmentofProto-Germanic 67
3.1 Introduction 67
3.2 Regularsoundchanges 68
3.2.1 Theeliminationoflaryngeals,
andrelateddevelopmentsofvowels 68
3.2.2 Changesaffectingsonorants 81
3.2.3 Changesaffectingobstruents 87
3.2.4 Grimm’sLawandVerner’sLaw 93
vi Contents
3.2.5 Sievers’Lawandnon-initialsyllables 116
3.2.6 Lossof*j,*w,and*@;miscellaneous
consonantchanges 128
3.2.7 Otherchangesofvowels 145
3.2.8 Chronologicaloverview 150
3.3 Restructuringsoftheinflectionalmorphology 151
3.3.1 Therestructuringoftheverbsystem 151
3.3.2 Thedoubleparadigmofadjectives 169
3.4 Thedevelopmentofinflectionalmorphology indetail 170
3.4.1 Changesininflectionalcategories 171
3.4.2 Changesintheformalexpression
ofinflectionalcategories 172
3.4.3 Changesinverbinflection 174
3.4.4 Changesinnouninflection 196
3.4.5 Changesintheinflectionofothernominals 202
3.5 Changesinothercomponentsofthegrammar 211
4 Proto-Germanic 213
4.1 Introduction 213
4.2 PGmcphonology 214
4.2.1 PGmcconsonants 214
4.2.2 PGmcvocalics 220
4.3 PGmcinflectionalmorphology 233
4.3.1 InflectionalcategoriesofPGmc 233
4.3.2 TheformalexpressionofPGmc
inflectionalcategories 234
4.3.3 PGmcverbinflection 235
4.3.4 PGmcnouninflection 268
4.3.5 PGmcadjectiveinflection 281
4.3.6 TheinflectionofotherPGmcnominals 286
4.4 PGmcwordformation 291
4.4.1 Compounding 291
4.4.2 PGmcderivationalsuffixes 291
4.5 PGmcsyntax 295
4.6 ThePGmclexicon 295
References 298
Index 307
Abbreviations
abl. ablative nom. nominative
acc. accusative NP nounphrase
act. active NWGmc NorthwestGermanic
aor. aorist O object
Av. Avestan obl. oblique
CP COMPphrase OCS OldChurchSlavonic
cpd. compound OE OldEnglish
dat. dative OF OldFrisian
dial. dialectal OHG OldHighGerman
du. dual OIr. OldIrish
fem. feminine ON OldNorse
fut. future opt. optative
gen. genitive OS OldSaxon
Gk Greek pass. passive
Gmc Germanic pf. perfect
Goth. Gothic PGmc Proto-Germanic
Hitt. Hittite PIE Proto-Indo-European
I INFL pl. plural
IE Indo-European PNWGmc Proto-NorthwestGermanic
indic. indicative prep. preposition
inf. inWnitive pres. present
inst. instrumental pret. preterite
intr. intransitive ptc. participle
ipf. imperfect PWGmc Proto-WestGermanic
iptv. imperative S subject
Lat. Latin sg. singular
Lith. Lithuanian Skt Sanskrit
loc. locative subj. subjunctive
masc. masculine Toch. Tocharian
ME MiddleEnglish V verb
MHG MiddleHighGerman Ved. Vedic
MIr. MiddleIrish voc. vocative
ModHG ModernHighGerman WGmc WestGermanic
mp. mediopassive 1,2,3 1st,2nd,3rdperson
N noun 1ary primary
neut. neuter 2ary secondary
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the following colleagues and students for helpful
criticism of this work: the graduate and undergraduate students in a course
on the history of English at the University of Pennsylvania, handouts for
whichconstitutedthefirstdraftofthebook;AnthonyKroch,whoco-taught
that course; Tom McFadden; and especially Alfred Bammesberger, Patrick
Stiles,andRonaldKimwhoreadthemanuscript,mademanyhelpfulsugges-
tions,alertedmetoseveralreferences,andcorrectedanumberoferrors.Iam
also grateful to my editor, John Davey, and an anonymous reviewer for
further helpful suggestions, and to the editorial staff of Oxford University
Press, especially Chloe Plummer, Sylvia Jaffrey, and Kim Allen. Remaining
flawsanderrorsare,ofcourse,myown.
