Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/turbz

This Proto-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-Germanic

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *derbʰ- (“tuft, grass”). Don Ringe argues that the lack of a-mutation in Old High German shows that zurba must have originally been a consonant stem.^[1] In addition, Old English turf clearly shows a consonant-stem declension. In many of the descendants, the noun was thematized early on enough to cause a-mutation in the descendant forms.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈturβz/

Noun

*turbz m or f

turf, peat ^[2]

Inflection

consonant stemDeclension of *turbz (consonant stem)
	singular	plural
nominative	*turbz	*turbiz
vocative	*turb	*turbiz
accusative	*turbų	*turbunz
genitive	*turbiz	*turbǫ̂
dative	*turbi	*turbumaz
instrumental	*turbē	*turbumiz

Related terms

Descendants

Proto-West Germanic: *turb
- Old English: turf f
  - Middle English: turf, turfe, torf, tourfe
    - English: turf
    - Scots: turr, truff
    - Yola: thrive
- Old Frisian: turf
  - >? Saterland Frisian: Toarks
  - West Frisian: turf (also possibly from Dutch)
- Old Saxon: *torf, turf m
  - Middle Low German: torf m
    - German Low German: Torf
    - → German: Torf
      - Polish: torf
      - Portuguese: turfa
      - Russian: торф (torf)
        → Abkhaz: а-то́рф (a-tʼórf)
        → Armenian: տորֆ (torf)
        → Azerbaijani: torf
        → Georgian: ტორფი (ṭorpi)
        → Ossetian: торф (torf)
- → Old French: torbe
  - French: tourbe
    - → Italian: torba
- Old Dutch: *torf, *turf
  - Middle Dutch: turf, torf m
    - Dutch: turf m
      - Afrikaans: turf
- >? Old High German: zurft f (doubtful; singularily attested and phonetically irregular)
Old Norse: torf n, torfa f
- Icelandic: torf n
- Faroese: torv n
- Norwegian:
  - Norwegian: torv n or m
  - Norwegian Nynorsk: torv n or f
- Old Swedish: torf n or f, törf n or f
  - Swedish: torv c, torva c
- Danish: tørv c
- → Norman: torve f
→ Proto-Finnic: *turbëh, *turbas (see there for further descendants)

References

^ Ringe, Don with Ann Taylor (2014) The Development of Old English: a Linguistic History of English‎^[1], Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 28
^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7)‎^[2], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN

[1] Ringe, Don with Ann Taylor (2014) The Development of Old English: a Linguistic History of English‎^[1], Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 28

[2] De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7)‎^[2], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN

[1]

[2]