Reconstruction:Old High German/zungal
 | This Old High German entry contains reconstructed words and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence. |
Old High German
Etymology
From Proto-Germanic *tunglą, whence Old English tungol, Old Norse tungl, Gothic 𐍄𐌿𐌲𐌲𐌻 (tuggl) (gloss on Galatians 4:3).The further etymology is unknown; Pokorny reconstructs a PIE root *dengh- "to shine" just from this Germanic word and a Baltic word for "to seem, to appear" (Lithuanian diñga).Grimm in his Teutonic Mythology opined that "no doubt", the word was a derivation from Proto-Germanic *tungǭ "lingua", offering the explanation that "the moon and some of the planets, when partially illuminated, do present the appearance of a tongue or sickle" but admits that he knows of no parallel to this in other language and adds the footnote "or was the twinkling of the stars likened to a tingling [züngeln]".The meaning "moon", which is already found in Old Icelandic prose, is secondary, as evidenced by the surviving Icelandic compound himin-tungl (= Old English heofontungol, Old High German himil-zunga, Old Saxon himil-tungal) for "star".
Noun
*zungal n
- star (astrum, sidus), heavenly body
Declension
| case | singular | plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | *zungal | *zungal |
| accusative | *zungal | *zungal |
| genitive | *zungales | *zungalo |
| dative | *zungale | *zungalum |
| instrumental | *zungalu | — |
Derived terms
- himilzungal
References
- Richard Cleasby and Gudbrand Vigfusson, An Icelandic-English Dictionary, 1874, s.v. "tungl".