Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/-naną

This Proto-Germanic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Germanic

Etymology

Reconstructed by Ringe from an alternating suffix *-nō- (singular) ~ *-na- (nonsingular), from Proto-Indo-European *-néh₂- ~ *-nh₂-, from n-infix presents to laryngeal-final roots that were reanalysed as a separate suffix (as in several other branches).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nɑ.nɑ̃/

Verb

*-naną

1. Forms fientive verbs, with a sense of 'to become (the base)'.

Inflection

These verbs are always intransitive, so there are no passive forms. They seemed to have originally lacked a past participle as well.

Conjugation of *-naną (weak class 4)

	active voice			passive voice
present tense	indicative	subjunctive	imperative	indicative	subjunctive
1st singular	*-nō	*-naų	—	—	—
2nd singular	*-nōsi	*-nais	*-nō	—	—
3rd singular	*-nōþi	*-nai	*-nōþau	—	—
1st dual	*-nōs	*-naiw	—	—	—
2nd dual	*-naþiz	*-naiþiz	*-naþiz	—	—
1st plural	*-namaz	*-naim	—	—	—
2nd plural	*-naþ	*-naiþ	*-naþ	—	—
3rd plural	*-nanþi	*-nain	*-nanþau	—	—
past tense	indicative	subjunctive
1st singular	*-nōdǭ	*-nōdēdį̄
2nd singular	*-nōdēz	*-nōdēdīz
3rd singular	*-nōdē	*-nōdēdī
1st dual	*-nōdēdū	*-nōdēdīw
2nd dual	*-nōdēdudiz	*-nōdēdīdiz
1st plural	*-nōdēdum	*-nōdēdīm
2nd plural	*-nōdēdud	*-nōdēdīd
3rd plural	*-nōdēdun	*-nōdēdīn
	present	past
participles	*-nandz	—

Derived terms

Proto-Germanic class 4 weak verbs

Descendants

This suffix was preserved as a separate class only in Gothic. In Old High German, it mostly merged with the third weak class, while in the other descendants it merged with the second weak class.

• Proto-West Germanic: *-nan
  • Old English: -nian
    • Middle English: -nen, -enen
      • English: -en
      • Scots: -in
  • Old High German: -nēn
• Old Norse: -na
  • Icelandic: -na
  • Faroese: -na
  • Norwegian:
    • Norwegian Nynorsk: -na
    • Norwegian Bokmål: -ne
  • Swedish: -na
  • Danish: -ne
• Gothic: -𐌽𐌰𐌽 (-nan)