Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/dūnā

This Proto-West 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-West Germanic

Alternative forms

*dūn m, *dūnu f, *dūnō m

Etymology

Uncertain and disputed; possibly from Proto-Germanic *dūnaz (“accumulation, pile, heap, mound”) (whence also Old Norse dúnn (“pile, heap, assembly”)), from Proto-Germanic base *dū- (“to whisk, whip up, excite, agitate, storm, be stormy”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- (“smoke, dust, haze”). Unlike permanent hills, sand dunes are ever-shifting due to storms and wind, and are not optimal places to build fortifications.
Alternatively, perhaps borrowed from Proto-Celtic *dūnom (“stronghold, rampart”), from the same Proto-Indo-European root above, which also developed the sense of "hill, fortified hill" in Brythonic; however phonology makes a borrowing from Brythonic untenable, as the vowel there shifted from ū to i giving Proto-Brythonic *din where Germanic still clearly has ū.

Noun

*dūnā f

Inflection

ōn-stem
	Singular
Nominative	*dūnā
Genitive	*dūnōn
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	*dūnā	*dūnōn
Accusative	*dūnōn	*dūnōn
Genitive	*dūnōn	*dūnōnō
Dative	*dūnōn	dūnōm, dūnum
Instrumental	*dūnōn	dūnōm, dūnum

Descendants

Old English: dūn f or m
- Middle English: dune, doun
  - English: dune, down
  - Scots: doun, down
Old Saxon: *dūna f, *dūn m
- Middle Low German: dûne, dunne f, don, done, donne m
  - German Low German: Düne, Düün
  - → German: Düne
  - → Swedish: dyn, dyne
  - → Norwegian: dyne
  - → Danish: dyne
Old Dutch: dūn, dūno ?
- Middle Dutch: dûne f or n
  - Dutch: duin f
    - Afrikaans: duin
  - → Old Frisian: dūne f, *dūn n (also possibly borrowed from Low German)
    - Saterland Frisian: Dúune, Duune f
    - West Frisian: dún n
  - → Old French: dune
    - Middle French: dune
      - French: dune
Old High German: *tūna, dūna f