Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/wahsą

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

Of somewhat disputed origin. Cognate with Proto-Balto-Slavic *wáśkan (“wax”), from Proto-Indo-European *woḱso (“idem”),^[1] which was originally reconstructed by Pokorny as *wokso, *wos-ko-.^[2] However, others have compared the terms with Latin velum (“sailcloth”) and Dutch wiek (“windmill sail”), from *weg- (“to weave”) (though the semantic link appears tenuous).^[3] The Germanic and Balto-Slavic terms could instead be from a pre-Indo-European substrate.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈwɑx.sɑ̃/

Noun

*wahsą n

wax

Inflection

neuter a-stemDeclension of *wahsą (neuter a-stem)
	singular	plural
nominative	*wahsą	*wahsō
vocative	*wahsą	*wahsō
accusative	*wahsą	*wahsō
genitive	wahsas, wahsis	*wahsǫ̂
dative	*wahsai	*wahsamaz
instrumental	*wahsō	*wahsamiz

Descendants

Old English: weax, wæx, wex
- Middle English: wax, vax, vex, waxe, waxs, wex, wexe, wexs
  - English: wax
  - Scots: wax
Old Frisian: wax
- Saterland Frisian: Woaks
- West Frisian: waaks, waachs
Old Saxon: wahs
- Middle Low German: was
  - German Low German: Wass
Old Dutch: wahs
- Middle Dutch: was
  - Dutch: was
    - Afrikaans: was
Old High German: wahs
- Middle High German: wahs
  - Cimbrian: baks
  - German: Wachs
    - → Russian: вакса (vaksa)
      - → Armenian: վաքս (vakʻs), վակս (vaks)
      - → Persian: واکس (vâks)
  - Luxembourgish: Wuess
  - Yiddish: וואַקס (vaks)
Old Norse: vax
- Icelandic: vax
- Faroese: vaks
- Norwegian: voks
- Old Swedish: vax
  - Swedish: vax
- Old Danish: wax, wox
  - Danish: voks
- Elfdalian: waks
- Gutnish: vax
→ Proto-Finnic: *vaha (see there for further descendants)

References

^ Guus Kroonen (2013) “*wahsa-”, in Alexander Lubotsky, editor, Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11)‎^[1], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 566
^ Pokorny, Julius (1959) “*u̯okso-”, in Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 3, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 1180
^ van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “was”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute

[1] Guus Kroonen (2013) “*wahsa-”, in Alexander Lubotsky, editor, Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11)‎^[1], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 566

[2] Pokorny, Julius (1959) “*u̯okso-”, in Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 3, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 1180

[3] van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “was”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute

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