Reconstruction talk:Proto-West Germanic/kiʀn

The meaning

I doubt the meaning “pine tree”. For New High German it is known to only mean its resinous wood, similarly Middle High German. For Old High German there are glosses of those forms with Latin pinus, but it does not mean the word means the tree, “pinus“ may as well mean but the wood, or only a torch. as the word is used in the Aeneid 9, 72. For Old High German too it is glossed fax, facula, taeda, besides pinus. Marzell writes “the last meaning seems to be younger”. Old English ċēn we have just for “torch”. The Middle Dutch dictionary writes about there being only one attestation outside of onomastics and compounds, remarking “what the meaning there is seems not clear” (wat hier de betekenis is, blijkt niet duidelijk.) The Low German and High German word, sometimes also as feminine (German Kiene), mean “pine” in some dialects merely, likely transferred (maybe even an alternative shortening of Kienföhre). So I think it did not mean “pine tree” in Proto-West-Germanic, this has only been stated for wacky comparisons, @Victar. It meant what Latin taeda. Fay Freak (talk) 19:58, 11 August 2020 (UTC)

@Fay Freak: Feel free to change the meaning. I'm just merging unwarranted PG entries into PWG ones with unknown etymologies. --{{victar|talk}} 20:12, 11 August 2020 (UTC)