Proto-Germanic/Printable version

Proto-Germanic

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Pronunciation

Welcome to the pronunciation lesson of Proto-Germanic!

Consonants

		Bilabial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
						Plain	Labial
Nasal		m ⟨m⟩		n ⟨n⟩
Stop	Unvoiced	p ⟨p⟩	t ⟨t⟩			k ⟨k⟩	kʷ ⟨kw⟩
	Voiced	b ⟨b⟩	d ⟨d⟩			ɡ ⟨g⟩	ɡʷ ⟨gw⟩
Fricative	Unvoiced	ɸ ⟨f⟩	θ ⟨þ⟩	s ⟨s⟩		x ⟨h⟩	xʷ ⟨hw⟩
	Voiced			z ⟨z⟩
Approximants					j ⟨j⟩		w ⟨w⟩
Lateral				l ⟨l⟩
Trill				r ⟨r⟩

• In some positions, voiced stops /b/, /d/, and /ɡ/ are pronounced as [β], [ð], and [ɣ] instead:
  • in intervocalic positions;
  • in word-initial positions in the case of /ɡ/ [ɣ]; and
  • sometimes after /r/ in the case of /d/ [ð], varying with its stop allophone.
• /n/ before velar stops /k/ and /ɡ/ (both of which can be labialized) is pronounced as /ŋ/.

Vowels

Oral vowels Type Front Back short long overlong short long overlong Close i ⟨i⟩ iː ⟨ī⟩ u ⟨u⟩ uː ⟨ū⟩ Mid e ⟨e⟩ eː ⟨ē²⟩ eːː ~ æːː ⟨ê⟩ oː ⟨ō⟩ oːː ⟨ô⟩ Open æː ⟨ē¹⟩ ɑ ⟨a⟩ ɑː ⟨ā⟩

Nasal vowels Type Front Back short long short long Close ĩ ⟨į⟩ ĩː ⟨į̄⟩ ũ ⟨ų⟩ ũː ⟨ų̄⟩ Mid õː ⟨ǭ⟩ Open ɑ̃ ⟨ą⟩ ɑ̃ː ⟨ą̄⟩

Pronouns and numbers

Welcome to the first lesson of Proto-Germanic!

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

First and second person

Unlike almost all modern Germanic languages, Proto-Germanic personal pronouns still has dual forms (except those were non-existent for the third person).

Case	Singular		Dual		Plural
	First	Second	First	Second	First	Second
	I	you thou	we two	you two	we	you
Nominative	*ek	*þū	*wet	*jut	*wīz	*jūz
Accusative	*mek	*þek	*unk	*inkw	*uns	*izwiz
Genitive	*mīnaz	*þīnaz	*unkeraz	*inkweraz	*unseraz	*izweraz
Dative / Instrumental	*miz	*þiz	*unkiz	*inkwiz	*unsiz	*izwiz

In Gothic, however, ending *-az in the genitive forms are replaced by ones ending in *-ō (yielding *mīnō, *þīnō, *unserō, *izwerō, *unkerō and *inkerō). Unstressed forms of monosyllabic personal pronouns are formed by raising *-e- to *-i-, so *ek yields unstressed *ik, *wet yields *wit, and *mek yields *mik.

Third person

The third person pronouns, however, are very diverse throughout the family (Old English he, but Gothic es). The table below, however, are extracted from the corresponding Wikipedia article about the grammar of Proto-Germanic.

	Singular			Plural
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
	he	she	it	they
Nominative	*iz	*sī	*it	*īz	*ijôz	*ijō
Accusative	*inǭ	*ijǭ		*inz
Genitive	*es	*ezōz	*es	*ezǫ̂
Dative	*immai	*ezōi	*immai	*emaz
Instrumental	*ina (?)	*ezō	*ina (?)	*imiz

Numbers

List

1	*ainaz	11	*ainalif	30	*þrīz tigiwiz
2	*twō	12	*twalif	40	*fedwōr tigiwiz
3	*þrīz	13	*þritehun	50	*fimf tigiwiz
4	*fedwōr	14	*fedurtehun	60	*sehs tigiwiz
5	*fimf	15	*fimftehun	70	*sebun tigiwiz *sebuntēhundą
6	*sehs	16	*sehstehun	80	*ahtōu tigiwiz *ahtōutēhundą
7	*sebun	17	*sebuntehun	90	*newun tigiwiz *newuntēhundą
8	*ahtōu	18	*ahtōutehun	100	*hundą *hundaradą *tehuntēhundą
9	*newun	19	*newuntehun	1000	*þūsundī
10	*tehun	20	*twai tigiwiz

Derivatives

• Cardinal: Usually formed by the suffix *-dô, however, it instead becomes *-tô after voiceless consonants (*fimf "five" → *fimftô "fifth"). Some numbers have irregular forms:
  • *ainaz → *frumô "first"
  • *twō → *anþeraz "second"
  • *þrīz → *þridjô "third"
  • *fedwōr → *fedurþô "fourth"
  • *sehs → *sehtô "sixth"
  • *ahtōu → *ahtudô "eighth"

Nouns and adjectives

Welcome to the second lesson of Proto-Germanic!

Nouns

Masculine nouns

Ending in *-az

	*dagaz "day"
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	*dagaz	*dagōz
Vocative	*dag
Accusative	*dagą	*daganz
Genitive	*dagas *dagis	*dagǭ
Dative	*dagai	*dagamz
Instrumental	*dagō

Note that nouns containing *-e- always umlauted to *-i- before all endings containing *-i- in first syllable (nominative *berg-az "mountain, hill", but genitive *birg-is). Noun stems ending in *-j- or *-ij- have their own declensions with unique genitive singular ending (there are two variants of genitive singular, however):

Nominative singular	*harjaz "army"	*hirdijaz "shepherd"
Genitive singular	*harjas	*hirdijas
	*haris	*hirdīs

So, all of the expected sequences *-ji- and *-iji- instead becoming *-i- and *-ī- as a result of regular sound changes.

Feminine nouns

Ending in *-ō

	*gebō "day"
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	*gebō	*gebōz
Vocative
Accusative	*gebǭ	*gebōz
Genitive	*gebōz	*gebǭ
Dative	*gebōi	*gebōmz
Instrumental	*gebō

Neuter nouns

Note that nouns in the neuter gender have syncretism in nominative, vocative, and accusative cases.

Ending in *-ą

	*wurdą "word"
	Singular	Plural
Nominative Vocative Accusative	*wurdą	*wurdō
Genitive	*wurdas *wurdis	*wurdǭ
Dative	*wurdai	*wurdamz
Instrumental	*wurdō

Ending in *-az

	*lambaz "lamb"
	Singular	Plural
Nominative Vocative Accusative	*lambaz	*lambizō
Genitive	*lambizz	*lambizǭ
Dative	*lambizī	*lambizumz
Instrumental	*lambizē

Retention of neuter -az declension is a complex issue. Anglian dialect of Old English fully preserved this declension (see lamb), while the rest of West Germanic only in the plural (the singular endings were replaced by more common masculine counterparts, e.g. dative *lambai from earlier *lambizī). Old Norse and Gothic fully merge this to the masculine -az declension.