Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/lēkijaz

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

Uncertain; possibly from *lēkiz (“healing; medicine; healer”) +‎ *-jaz, or borrowed from Proto-Celtic *leigis (“healer”) of the same root. Perhaps also from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- (“to collect, gather”), and thus related to Latin legō. Alternatively, from Proto-Indo-European *leg- (“to leak”), with original sense of "blood-letter (leaker)" > "leech (used in therapy)" > "doctor", though this is speculative.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɛː.ki.jɑz/

Noun

*lēkijaz m

1. doctor, physician

Inflection

masculine ja-stemDeclension of *lēkijaz (masculine ja-stem)
	singular	plural
nominative	*lēkijaz	*lēkijōz, *lēkijōs
vocative	*lēkī	*lēkijōz, *lēkijōs
accusative	*lēkiją	*lēkijanz
genitive	*lēkijas, *lēkīs	*lēkijǫ̂
dative	*lēkijai	*lēkijamaz
instrumental	*lēkijō	*lēkijamiz

Derived terms

• *lēkinōną

Related terms

• *lēkijǭ

Descendants

• Proto-West Germanic: *lākī
  • Old English: lǣċe
    • Middle English: leche
      • English: leech
  • Old Frisian: lēka, lētza
  • Old High German: lāhhi
• Old Norse:

  Old East Norse: *lækir

  Old West Norse: læknir

  • Icelandic: læknir
  • Faroese: lækni
  • Old Swedish: lǣkir, lǣkiare
    • Swedish: läkare
    • → Finnish: lääkäri, lääke
    • → Norwegian:
      • Norwegian Nynorsk: lækjar
  • Old Danish: lægæ, legi
    • Danish: læge
      • → Norwegian:
        • Norwegian Bokmål: lege
        • Norwegian Nynorsk: lege

• Gothic: 𐌻𐌴𐌺𐌴𐌹𐍃 (lēkeis)