Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/Austrǭ

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Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/Austrǭ

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 *h₂ews- (“dawn”) or *h₂wes- (“to dawn”).

If the ancestral formation is *h₂ewsreh₂, Lithuanian aušrà, dial. auštrà (“dawn”), is identical in formation, as is Ancient Greek αὔρᾱ (aúrā, “(esp. cool) breeze, fresh air of the morning”), if from Proto-Hellenic *aúhrā (< *h₂éwsreh₂). Sanskrit उस्रा (usrā́-, “dawn, morning”) (from *h₂usreh₂) only differs by the zero-grade in the root.

Also compare Proto-Slavic *utro (“morning, dawn”) (with variants including *ustro, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *auš(t)ra- (“dawn, morning”)) and Albanian err (“darkness”) (if from *ausra (“twilight”)). For the epenthetic -t- in Proto-Germanic (also widespread in Balto-Slavic), compare *þimstr (“dark, dusky”).

All of these may go back to a Proto-Indo-European adjective *h₂us-ró- (> Sanskrit उस्र (usrá-, “reddish, ruddy, bright, matutinal”)) ~ *h₂éws-ro- (“of the dawn or morning, matutinal; eastern”), derived from a r-stem noun *h₂us-r- (forms belonging to such a formation are attested in the oldest Vedic[1]), explaining the differences in ablaut and gender. Proto-Celtic *wāsrī from *h₂wōsrih₂ (> Old Irish fáir) is close as well.

See also the noun *h₂éwsōs and its descendants, including Latin Aurōra, Ancient Greek Ἠώς (Ēṓs).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɑu̯s.trɔ̃ː/

Proper noun

*Austrǭ f[2]

1. Easter, springtime
2. name of a goddess

Inflection

ōn-stemDeclension of *Austrǭ (ōn-stem)
	singular
nominative	*Austrǭ
vocative	*Austrǭ
accusative	*Austrōnų
genitive	*Austrōniz
dative	*Austrōni
instrumental	*Austrōnē

Related terms

• *austraz

Descendants

• Proto-West Germanic: *austrā
  • Old English: ēastre, ēastrun, ēastron, ēastru, ēoster, ēster, ēastor, ēastro
    • Middle English: Eestour, Ester, Yestre
      • English: Easter
        • → Chickasaw: Iista'
      • Scots: Easter
  • Old English: Ēastre, Ēostre (“goddess of spring and fertility”)
    • → English: Eostre
  • Old Frisian: āsteron
  • Old Saxon: *ōstara, *ōstarūn
    • Middle Low German: ôsteren, ôstern
      • German Low German: Oostern
      • Plautdietsch: Oostren
  • Old Dutch: *ōstera
    • ⇒ Old Dutch: ōstermānoth (“April”, literally “Eastermonth”)
  • Old High German: ōstra, ōstrūn, ōstarūn
    • Middle High German: ōstre, ōstere, ōster
      • Bavarian:

        Cimbrian: Oastarn

        Mòcheno: Oastern

      • German: Ostern
      • Hunsrik: Oostre
      • Luxembourgish: Ouschteren
      • East Central German: Ustern
• → Proto-Slavic:
  • Kashubian: Jastrë, Jastra
  • Polabian: jostrǻi
  • Lower Sorbian: jatšy
  • Upper Sorbian: jutry

References

1. Mayrhofer, Manfred (1992) Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen [Etymological Dictionary of Old Indo-Aryan] (in German), volume 1, Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, page 236
2. Kroonen, Guus (2013), “*austrōn-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 43