< Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic

Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/-astrijā

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

Alternative reconstructions

Etymology

Uncertain; multiple origins have been suggested, but none has received widespread approval.[2]

  • Despite the similarity of the suffix to Vulgar Latin -istria, borrowing from it is now usually rejected because of the large number of Old English formations where this suffix is applied to native roots.
  • Davis and Bammesberger derive it from earlier -astrī (a neuter ja-stem; they see this form surviving in relics such as Old English eowestre) suffixed with *-jā, from Proto-Germanic *-astriją, itself a suffixation of *-istrą, *-astrą with *-ją.[3][4]
  • Gąsiorowski instead considers this suffix to be an extension of earlier *-astri (an ī/jō-stem), with replacement of the unproductive ī/jō-stem endings with more common ōn-stem endings. He suggests that *-astri originates from Proto-Indo-European *-sr-ih₂, a zero-grade form of *-sōr suffixed with *-ih₂; he also suggests a relation to Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz (see *-ārī).[5]

Suffix

*-astrijā f

  1. -ress: Forms feminine agent nouns from verbs.
    Coordinate term: *-ārī

Inflection
ōn-stem
Singular
Nominative *-astrijā
Genitive *-astrijōn
Singular Plural
Nominative *-astrijā *-astrijōn
Accusative *-astrijōn *-astrijōn
Genitive *-astrijōn *-astrijōnō
Dative *-astrijōn *-astrijōm, *-astrijum
Instrumental *-astrijōn *-astrijōm, *-astrijum

Descendants

References
  1. Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “-ster”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
  2. Paul Peterson (2013 January 1) “An Old Problem in Etymology Revisited: The Origin of Germanic Nouns with the Suffix -ster”, in Amsterdamer Beiträge zur älteren Germanistik, volume 70, number 1, →DOI, pages 1–19
  3. Alfred Bammesberger (2003 September) “The Provenance of the Old English Suffix -estre”, in North-Western European Language Evolution (NOWELE), volume 43, →DOI, pages 53–63
  4. Garry W. Davis (1992 July) “OE-estre and PGmc. *-ārjaz: The origin and development of two agentive suffixes in Germanic”, in Journal of Germanic Linguistics, volume 4, number 2, →DOI, pages 103–116
  5. Piotr Gąsiorowski (2017 November 17) “Cherchez la femme: Two Germanic suffixes, one etymology”, in Folia Linguistica Historica, volume 51, number s38, →DOI, pages 125–147
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