Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/kwerþr

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

Etymology 1

From *kwerran (“to devour”) +‎ *-þr (instrumental suffix).

Noun

*kwerþr n

1. bait

Inflection

Neuter a-stem
	Singular
Nominative	*kwerþr
Genitive	*kwerþras
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	*kwerþr	*kwerþru
Accusative	*kwerþr	*kwerþru
Genitive	*kwerþras	*kwerþrō
Dative	*kwerþrē	*kwerþrum
Instrumental	*kwerþru	*kwerþrum

Descendants

• Old High German: querdar
  • Middle High German: querder
    • German: Köder

Further reading

• Seebold, Elmar (1970) “-KWERR-*A- ‘(schlingen)’”, in Vergleichendes und etymologisches Wörterbuch der germanischen starken Verben (Janua Linguarum. Series practica; 85) (in German), Paris, Den Haag: Mouton, →ISBN, page 318: “kwer-dra-z (m)”
• Guus Kroonen (2013) “*kwerþra- 1”, in Alexander Lubotsky, editor, Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11)‎^[1], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 318

Etymology 2

Unknown. Kroonen's link with Hittite 𒆪𒅕 (ku-er, “to cut up”) isn't tenable, as this comes from Proto-Indo-European *kʷer- (“to do, to cut off”).

Noun

*kwerþr n

1. cut, cut off piece, edge

Inflection

Neuter a-stem
	Singular
Nominative	*kwerþr
Genitive	*kwerþras
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	*kwerþr	*kwerþru
Accusative	*kwerþr	*kwerþru
Genitive	*kwerþras	*kwerþrō
Dative	*kwerþrē	*kwerþrum
Instrumental	*kwerþru	*kwerþrum

Descendants

• Old Saxon:
  • Middle Low German: querder, querdel, korder m or n (“patch (of leather/wick”)}
    • → Faroese: kvarði m (“edge of garment”)
    • → Norwegian Bokmål: kvarde m (“seam, border, chine”)
    • → Norwegian Nynorsk: kvarde
    • → Elfdalian: kward m (“band, callus”)
• Old High German: querdar m or n (“wick”)
  • Middle High German: querder m or n (“patch”)
• Old Dutch:
  • Middle Dutch: querdel, quardel m or n (“strap of shoe-leather”)

Further reading

• Guus Kroonen (2013) “*kwerþra- 2”, in Alexander Lubotsky, editor, Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11)‎^[2], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 318
• Kloekhorst, Alwin (2008) “kuer-^zi / kur- / kuu̯ar-”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Hittite Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 5), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 486f