Talk:gombe

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *gambǭ, related to Old Saxon gambra, "tribute" (< *gambrō), Old High German gambara, "diligent, quick, strong" and gambarī, "virtue, strength" < *gambraz and *gambrį̄, along with Old Norse gambrs, "type of bird", and gambra, "to brag, show off", and gamban-, "great", in compounds. Ignoring the Old English word and the latter Old Norse compound formative, we are presented with an adjective *gambraz and its derivatives. Counting the OE and ON forms without -r- however, we are looking at a lost strong verb *gambaną, which must reflect either pre-Germanic *gʰombʰ-, or a nasal present *gʰH̥nébʰ-e-, *gʰH̥nbʰ-é-, which requires a root shape *gʰeHbʰ-, which is similarly reconstructed for Celtic *gabyeti < *gʰH̥bʰ-yé-, "to take, hold".

With this in mind, the adjective *gambraz, "taking", must be compared semantically with English nimble, "quick, capable" from archaic nim, "to take". And the r-less nouns, as well as secondary Old Saxon gamb(r)a (with r by analogy), probably go back to *gambō/*gambǭ, "a taking" > "(a share of) a taking" > "(yielded) tribute".

For comparison of the nasal present *gʰH̥nébʰ-e-/*gʰH̥nbʰ-é-, compare Germanic *stand-, from earlier *sth̥₂nét-e-, *sth̥₂nt-é- which was formed after the t-ending in the aorist *steh₂-t was interpreted as part of the root > *steh₂t-, cf. its original preterite *stōþ, *stadun (later *stōdun is secondary), as if *stéh₂t-Ø, *sth̥₂t-ń̥d. Burgundaz (talk) 05:50, 19 January 2021 (UTC)