Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/skēpą

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

Unknown. May be a wanderword from West Asia: compare Persian (čapeš, “yearling goat”), Proto-Scythian *capi (whence Ossetian цӕу (cæw, “goat”); probably also loaned into Albanian as cap, cjap (“he-goat”) and Slavic as *capъ (“he-goat”)) and Proto-Turkic *čepiš (“yearling goat”).^[1]^[2]

Other proposals include:

An old European substrate word^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]
Derived from the root of *skabaną (“to scratch, scrape, shave, shear”), with *b > *p via Kluge's law;^[8] this may be evidenced by Old High German scāpāri, scāppāri (“sheepskin”) which points to a Proto-Germanic form with *b^[9]
Mallory & Adams assume a relation to Old English hēċen (“kid”) (see Proto-West Germanic *hōkīn) and propose Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱégos (“goat, sheep”), comparing several Indo-Iranian cognates such as Sanskrit छगल (chagala), छाग (chā́ga, “goat”) (whence Marathi सागा (sāgā, “flock of sheep”)), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *sčágas.^[10]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈskɛː.pɑ̃/

Noun

*skēpą n^[9]

sheep
Synonyms: *awiz, *fahaz

Inflection

neuter a-stemDeclension of *skēpą (neuter a-stem)
	singular	plural
nominative	*skēpą	*skēpō
vocative	*skēpą	*skēpō
accusative	*skēpą	*skēpō
genitive	skēpas, skēpis	*skēpǫ̂
dative	*skēpai	*skēpamaz
instrumental	*skēpō	*skēpamiz

Related terms

*keppô (“goat”)

Descendants

Proto-West Germanic: *skāp
- Old English: sċēap, *sċǣp, sċēp, scīp
  - Middle English: schep, scheep, schepe, sheep, shepe, ssep (Kent, Southern)
    - English: sheep (see there for further descendants)
    - Scots: sheep
    - Yola: zheep, sheep
- Old Frisian: skēp
  - North Frisian:
    Föhr-Amrum: schep, schap
    Goesharde: schäip
    Helgoland: skēap
    Mooring: schäip
    Sylt: Sjip
    Wiedingharde: sees
  - East Frisian:
    Harlingerland Frisian: schaip
    Saterland Frisian: Skäip, Schäip
    Wangerooge Frisian: schaip
    Wursten Frisian: schepp, scheep
  - West Frisian: skiep
    Hindeloopen: skeep
    Schiermonnikoog: schiep
- Old Saxon: skāp, scāp
  - Middle Low German: schâp
    - Low German:
      - German Low German:
        Hamburgisch: Schaap
      - Westphalian:
        Ravensbergisch: Schåp
        Sauerländisch: Schōp
        Westmünsterländisch: Schaop
    - Plautdietsch: Schop
- Old Dutch: scāp
  - Middle Dutch: schâep
    - Dutch: schaap
      - Afrikaans: skaap
      - Berbice Creole Dutch: skapu
      - Jersey Dutch: sxâp
      - Negerhollands: skaap, skap
      - → Lokono: sjikapoe, shikápo
      - → Sranan Tongo: skapu
        → Saramaccan: sikáfu, sikápu
      - → Warao: sikabo
- Old High German: scāf
  - Middle High German: schāf
    - Alemannic German: Schooff
      Swabian: Schoaf
    - Bavarian: Schåf
      Carinthian: Hap
    - East Central German:
      Upper Saxon German: Schåf
    - German: Schaf
      - → Alemannic German: Schaf
    - Hunsrik: Schof
    - Luxembourgish: Schof
    - Rhine Franconian: Schoof
      Palatine German: Schoof
      Pennsylvania German: Schof
    - Vilamovian: siöf
    - Yiddish: שאָף (shof)

References

^ Vladimir Orel (2003) “*keppōn”, in A Handbook of Germanic Etymology‎^[1], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 213
^ Vladimir Orel (2003) “*skēpan”, in A Handbook of Germanic Etymology‎^[2], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 340
^ Polomé, Edgar C. (1986) “The non-Indo-European component of the Germanic lexicon”, in Annemarie Etter, editor, o-o-per-ro-si. Festschrift für Ernst Risch zum 75. Geburtstag, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pages 661–672
^ Polomé, Edgar C. (1990) “The Indo-Europeanization of northern Europe: the linguistic evidence”, in Journal of Indo-European Studies, volume 18, pages 331–338
^ Huld, M. E. (1990) “The linguistic typology of the old European substrata in North Central Europe”, in Journal of Indo-European Studies, volume 18, pages 389–411
^ Vennemann, Theo (1994) “Linguistic reconstruction in the context of European prehistory”, in Transactions of the Philological Society, volume 92, pages 215–284
^ Vennemann, Theo (1998) “Basken, Semiten, Indogermanen. Urheimatfragen in linguistischer und anthropologischer Sicht”, in Wolfgang Meid, editor, Sprache und Kultur der Indogermanen. Akten der X. Fachtagung der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft, Innsbruck, 22.–28. September 1996, volume 93, Innsbruck: Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft, pages 119–138
^ Kroonen, Guus (2011) The Proto-Germanic n-stems: A study in diachronic morphophonology, Amsterdam, New York: Rodopi, →ISBN, page 45
↑ ^9.0 ^9.1 Guus Kroonen (2013) “*skēpa-”, in Alexander Lubotsky, editor, Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11)‎^[3], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 443
^ Mallory, J. P., Adams, D. Q. (2006) The Oxford introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European world, Oxford University Press, page 140: “*(s)k̂egos”

[1] Vladimir Orel (2003) “*keppōn”, in A Handbook of Germanic Etymology‎^[1], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 213

[2] Vladimir Orel (2003) “*skēpan”, in A Handbook of Germanic Etymology‎^[2], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 340

[3] Polomé, Edgar C. (1986) “The non-Indo-European component of the Germanic lexicon”, in Annemarie Etter, editor, o-o-per-ro-si. Festschrift für Ernst Risch zum 75. Geburtstag, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pages 661–672

[4] Polomé, Edgar C. (1990) “The Indo-Europeanization of northern Europe: the linguistic evidence”, in Journal of Indo-European Studies, volume 18, pages 331–338

[5] Huld, M. E. (1990) “The linguistic typology of the old European substrata in North Central Europe”, in Journal of Indo-European Studies, volume 18, pages 389–411

[6] Vennemann, Theo (1994) “Linguistic reconstruction in the context of European prehistory”, in Transactions of the Philological Society, volume 92, pages 215–284

[7] Vennemann, Theo (1998) “Basken, Semiten, Indogermanen. Urheimatfragen in linguistischer und anthropologischer Sicht”, in Wolfgang Meid, editor, Sprache und Kultur der Indogermanen. Akten der X. Fachtagung der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft, Innsbruck, 22.–28. September 1996, volume 93, Innsbruck: Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft, pages 119–138

[8] Kroonen, Guus (2011) The Proto-Germanic n-stems: A study in diachronic morphophonology, Amsterdam, New York: Rodopi, →ISBN, page 45

[EDPG-9] 9.0 ^9.1 Guus Kroonen (2013) “*skēpa-”, in Alexander Lubotsky, editor, Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11)‎^[3], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 443

[10] Mallory, J. P., Adams, D. Q. (2006) The Oxford introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European world, Oxford University Press, page 140: “*(s)k̂egos”

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