< Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic

Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/amslā

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

Etymology

Uncertain. Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ems- (“blackbird”), cognate with Latin merula (“blackbird, wrasse”), Proto-Celtic *mesalkā (“blackbird”);[1] particularly, it could reflect an s-stem with a diminutive suffix *-lā.[2] The irregular correspondences and limited distribution of the word, however, may be more easily explained as separate borrowings from a substrate source.[3][2]

Noun

*amslā f[4][1]

  1. blackbird

Inflection
ōn-stem
Singular
Nominative *amslā
Genitive *amslōn
Singular Plural
Nominative *amslā *amslōn
Accusative *amslōn *amslōn
Genitive *amslōn *amslōnō
Dative *amslōn *amslōm, *amslum
Instrumental *amslōn *amslōm, *amslum

Descendants
  • Old English: ōsle, ōslae
    • Middle English: osel, osele, osul, osulle, osyll
      • English: oozel, ousel, ouzel (dialectal)
      • Scots: osil
  • Old Saxon: amsla
    • Middle Low German: amsel, amelse
      • German Low German: Amsel
      • Plautdietsch: Aumsel
      • → English: amzel
  • Old High German: amsala, amsla, amasla, amusla, amisla
    • Middle High German: amsel

References
  1. Friedrich Kluge (1989) “Amsel”, in Elmar Seebold, editor, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache [Etymological Dictionary of the German Language] (in German), 22nd edition, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 26: “wg. *amslōn”
  2. Kroonen, Guus (2013) “*amslōn-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 25–26
  3. Schrijver, Peter (1997) “Animal, vegetable and mineral: some Western European substratum words”, in Lubotsky, A., editor, Sound Law and Analogy‎, Amsterdam/Atlanta, pages 293–316
  4. Ringe, Donald, Taylor, Ann (2014) The Development of Old English (A Linguistic History of English; 2), Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 141: “PWGmc *amslā”
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