Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/sadulaz

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

Difficult to explain.

• Though a cognate relationship to Latin sella (“seat; saddle”) and Proto-Slavic *sedъlò (id.) through Proto-Indo-European *sed- (“to sit”) is appealing, this suffers from formal issues. A pre-Germanic reconstruction *sod-dʰlo- or *sot-tló- (pace Kroonen) is probably untenable, as adjacent dental consonants (including *ddʰ) are not expected to have yielded Germanic *d but rather *ss, and even an irregular deletion of original *d should have yielded compensatory lengthening of the preceding vowel. Moreover, a thematic *-Tlo- suffix fails to explain either *-ul- in the suffix or the root a-vocalism of Germanic.
• An alternative, highly speculative option which avoids these phonetic pitfalls is to consider pre-Germanic *sét-ōl, *sot-l-és, uniting *sadulaz with *seþlą (“seat”). In this case *-ul- could have been taken from a neuter by-form *sét-l̥ when the two paradigms merged. However, the presumed root *set- (“to be stable”) is not well supported and not found elsewhere in Germanic. See Ancient Greek ἐτεός (eteós).
• If not inherited, it is possible that the Germanic word was borrowed from early Proto-Slavic or Balto-Slavic. A borrowing scenario fits better with the historical evidence, which indicates that Proto-Germanic speakers may have lacked saddles. However, in this case the Germanic a-vocalism is problematic.

(Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɑ.ðu.lɑz/

Noun

*sadulaz m

1. saddle

Inflection

masculine a-stemDeclension of *sadulaz (masculine a-stem)
	singular	plural
nominative	*sadulaz	*sadulōz, *sadulōs
vocative	*sadul	*sadulōz, *sadulōs
accusative	*sadulą	*sadulanz
genitive	*sadulas, *sadulis	*sadulǫ̂
dative	*sadulai	*sadulamaz
instrumental	*sadulō	*sadulamiz

Derived terms

• *sadulōną

Related terms

• *sitjaną

Descendants

• Proto-West Germanic: *sadul
  • Old English: sadol, sadel, sadul
    • Middle English: sadel, sadul, sadyl, saddyll, sadyll, sadil, sadill, sadle
      • English: saddle
        • → Chichewa: sadulo
      • Scots: saddle, saidle
  • Old Frisian: sadel, sāl
    • Saterland Frisian: Soadel
    • West Frisian: seal
  • Old Saxon: sadul (in compounds)
    • Middle Low German: sadel
      • German Low German: Sadel
      • Plautdietsch: Sodel
  • Old Dutch: *sadul, sadal (in placenames)
    • Middle Dutch: sādel
      • Dutch: zadel
        • Afrikaans: saal
        • Negerhollands: saddel, saël, sael, sal
        • → Caribbean Javanese: sadhel
        • → Indonesian: sadel
  • Old High German: satul, satil
    • Middle High German: satel
      • German: Sattel
      • Luxembourgish: Suedel
• Old Norse: sǫðull
  • Icelandic: söðull
  • Faroese: saðil
  • Norn: sedel
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: sal
  • Norwegian Bokmål: sal, sadel
  • Old Swedish: saþul
    • Swedish: sadel
  • Old Danish: sathæl
    • Danish: sadel
  • Gutnish: sadel, sadl, sal, sadul
• → Proto-Finnic: *satula (see there for further descendants)