Proto-Germanic/Pronouns and numbers

From Wikibooks, open books for an open world
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Welcome to the first lesson of Proto-Germanic!

Pronouns[edit | edit source]

Personal pronouns[edit | edit source]

First and second person[edit | edit source]

Unlike almost all modern Germanic languages, Proto-Germanic personal pronouns still has dual forms (except those were non-existent for the third person).

Case Singular Dual Plural
First Second First Second First Second
I you
thou
we two you two we you
Nominative *ek *þū *wet *jut *wīz *jūz
Accusative *mek *þek *unk *inkw *uns *izwiz
Genitive *mīnaz *þīnaz *unkeraz *inkweraz *unseraz *izweraz
Dative / Instrumental *miz *þiz *unkiz *inkwiz *unsiz *izwiz

In Gothic, however, ending *-az in the genitive forms are replaced by ones ending in *-ō (yielding *mīnō, *þīnō, *unserō, *izwerō, *unkerō and *inkerō).[1] Unstressed forms of monosyllabic personal pronouns are formed by raising *-e- to *-i-, so *ek yields unstressed *ik, *wet yields *wit, and *mek yields *mik.

Third person[edit | edit source]

The third person pronouns, however, are very diverse throughout the family (Old English he, but Gothic es). The table below, however, are extracted from the corresponding Wikipedia article about the grammar of Proto-Germanic.

Singular Plural
Masculine Feminine Neuter Masculine Feminine Neuter
he she it they
Nominative *iz *sī *it *īz *ijôz *ijō
Accusative *inǭ *ijǭ *inz
Genitive *es *ezōz *es *ezǫ̂
Dative *immai *ezōi *immai *emaz
Instrumental *ina (?) *ezō *ina (?) *imiz

Numbers[edit | edit source]

List[edit | edit source]

1 *ainaz 11 *ainalif 30 *þrīz tigiwiz
2 *twō 12 *twalif 40 *fedwōr tigiwiz
3 *þrīz 13 *þritehun 50 *fimf tigiwiz
4 *fedwōr 14 *fedurtehun 60 *sehs tigiwiz
5 *fimf 15 *fimftehun 70 *sebun tigiwiz
*sebuntēhundą
6 *sehs 16 *sehstehun 80 *ahtōu tigiwiz
*ahtōutēhundą
7 *sebun 17 *sebuntehun 90 *newun tigiwiz
*newuntēhundą
8 *ahtōu 18 *ahtōutehun 100 *hundą
*hundaradą
*tehuntēhundą
9 *newun 19 *newuntehun 1000 *þūsundī
10 *tehun 20 *twai tigiwiz

Derivatives[edit | edit source]

  • Cardinal: Usually formed by the suffix *-dô, however, it instead becomes *-tô after voiceless consonants (*fimf "five" → *fimf "fifth"). Some numbers have irregular forms:
    • *ainaz*frumô "first"
    • *twō*anþeraz "second"
    • *þrīz*þridjô "third"
    • *fedwōr*fedurþô "fourth"
    • *sehs*sehtô "sixth"
    • *ahtōu*ahtudô "eighth"


References[edit | edit source]

  1. A Grammar of Proto-Germanic: III. Inflectional morphology