Talk:𐌲𐌰𐍃𐌹𐌽𐌸𐌰

n-stem?

@Mnemosientje The two entries state that they are attested only in the dative singular. But that form is ambiguous as to whether it's an an-stem or an a-stem. Given that a-stem forms are much more frequent in West Germanic, do you think the Gothic form could be one, too? —Rua (mew) 09:53, 5 July 2020 (UTC)

@Rua: Good question. Given the -j- suffix, 𐌲𐌰𐍃𐌹𐌽𐌸𐌾𐌰𐌼 (gasinþjam) almost certainly belongs to an an-stem lemma (see -𐌾𐌰 (-ja)). 𐌲𐌰𐍃𐌹𐌽𐌸𐌰𐌼 (gasinþam) could technically speaking go both ways, but an an-stem noun makes more sense: agent nouns are very often weak in Gothic and the combination ga- + ... + -a in particular has a lot of precedent. Compare such formations as 𐌲𐌰𐌳𐌰𐌹𐌻𐌰 (gadaila), 𐌲𐌰𐍂𐌰𐌶𐌽𐌰 (garazna), 𐌲𐌰𐌾𐌿𐌺𐌰 (gajuka) and 𐌲𐌰𐌷𐌻𐌰𐌹𐌱𐌰 (gahlaiba). In contrast, Category:Gothic a-stem nouns contains no agent nouns with ga-. Therefore I followed the lead of Köbler and Lehmann, who both suppose an an-stem nom. sg. form. — Mnemosientje (t · c) 08:57, 6 July 2020 (UTC)

@Mnemosientje: Hmm, I wonder why the West Germanic languages went in such a different direction then. Reconstructing a common origin is proving to be a problem. —Rua (mew) 09:31, 6 July 2020 (UTC)