The Words for “Fire” in Germanic

This article puts forth a comprehensive set of etymologies for “fire” words in the Germanic languages that descend from Proto-Indo-Euro-pean (PIE) +péh2-. I propose that all relevant cognates are derived from the PIE holokinetic inflection, that is, +ph2-ōr (nominative-accusative) ~ +ph2-un- (obliqu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Germanic linguistics 2009-09, Vol.21 (3), p.297-333
Main Author: Simms, Douglas P. A.
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:This article puts forth a comprehensive set of etymologies for “fire” words in the Germanic languages that descend from Proto-Indo-Euro-pean (PIE) +péh2-. I propose that all relevant cognates are derived from the PIE holokinetic inflection, that is, +ph2-ōr (nominative-accusative) ~ +ph2-un- (oblique), and that all variants in the Germanic languages arose as a result of analogical changes in the Proto-Germanic and later periods. Furthermore, these etymologies cast doubt on reconstructions that require the positing of +ū in Proto-Germanic or Proto-Indo-European. In addition to providing cause to review existing reconstructions, this article also provides a closer philological view of the evidence of cognates in Germanic.
ISSN:1470-5427
1475-3014
DOI:10.1017/S147054270999002X