< Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic

Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/imbī

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

Unknown; possibly related to Ancient Greek ἐμπίς (empís, “mosquito”), Latin apis (“bee”) via a European substrate,[1] though Kroonen rejects the Greek comparison.[2]

Noun

*imbī m

  1. bee
  2. beeswarm

Inflection
Masculine ja-stem
Singular
Nominative *imbī
Genitive *imbijas
Singular Plural
Nominative *imbī *imbijō, *imbijōs
Accusative *imbī *imbijā
Genitive *imbijas *imbijō
Dative *imbijē *imbijum
Instrumental *imbiju *imbijum

Descendants
  • Old English: imbe, ymbe
  • Old Frisian: *em, *eme (in derivative emka)
    • North Frisian: imkönag
    • Saterland Frisian: Ieme; Imker
    • West Frisian: ime
  • Old Saxon: *imbi
    • Middle Low German: imme; immenkar
  • Old Dutch: *imbi
  • Old High German: imbi, impi

References
  1. van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “imme”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute
  2. Kroonen, Guus (2013) “*embja-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 117
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