Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/fedwōr

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Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/fedwōr

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 pre-Grimm *petwṓr, with an irregular consonant change from *kʷetwṓr, the neuter form of Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwóres. The consonant change was probably caused by the influence of the *p- in the word for "five", *pénkʷe. The expected outcome would have been "hedwōr". [1]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɸeð.wɔːr/

Numeral

Proto-Germanic cardinal numbers

<  3	4	5  >
Cardinal : *fedwōr     Ordinal : *fedurþô     Multiplier : *feþurfalþaz     Prefix : *feþur-

*fedwōr

1. four

Inflection

The declension for all three genders is identical.

Declension of *fedwōr (irregular)

	all genders
	plural
nominative	*fedwōr
accusative	*fedwōr
genitive	*fedurǫ̂
dative	*fedurmaz
instrumental	*fedurmiz

Derived terms

• *fedwōr tigiwiz

Related terms

• *feþur-

Descendants

In North and West Germanic, the form lost its *-d-, from which the attested forms are descended. In Old Norse, this would have given *fjór, but plural adjective endings were then added to this form. Though the middle consonant is only preserved in Gothic, a fossil is found in Old Norse fjaðryndaland (“the land of four hundreds”).

• Proto-West Germanic: *feuwar
  • Old English: fēower, fēowor
    • Middle English: four, fore, feour, fower, fowwre, foure, fowr, vour
      • English: four
        • Northumbrian: fower
      • Scots: fower
      • Yola: vour, voure, vowre
  • Old Frisian: fiūwer
    • North Frisian:

      Föhr-Amrum: fjauer

      Goesharde: fjauer

      Helgoland: schtjuur

      Mooring: fjouer

      Sylt: fjuur

      Wiedingharde: fjauer

    • Saterland Frisian: fjauer
    • West Frisian: fjouwer
  • Old Saxon: fiuwar, fiwar, fior
    • Middle Low German: vêr
      • Low German:
        • Dutch Low Saxon: vier, veer
        • German Low German: veer (Hamburgisch)
          • Westphalian:

            Münsterländisch: veer

            East Westphalian: veier (Paderbornisch), fåir' (Ravensbergisch)

      • Plautdietsch: vea
  • Old Dutch: *fiuwar (found in toponym Viuwarflet now called Viervliet), *fior, fier
    • Middle Dutch: vier
      • Dutch: vier
        • Afrikaans: vier
  • Old High German: fior
    • Middle High German: vier
      • Alemannic German: vier
      • Bavarian:

        Cimbrian: viare

        Mòcheno: viar

      • Central Franconian: vier

        Hunsrik: fier

      • German: vier
      • Luxembourgish: véier
      • Pennsylvania German: vier
      • Vilamovian: fiyr
      • Yiddish: פֿיר‎ (fir)
• Old Norse: fjórir
  • Icelandic: fjórir
  • Faroese: fýra
  • Norn: fyre
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: fire, fjore (archaic, Høgnorsk)
  • Norwegian Bokmål: fire
  • Elfdalian: fyra
  • Old Swedish: fiūrir, fiūri, fȳrir, fȳri
    • Swedish: fyra
  • Old Danish: fiuræ, fyræ, firæ
    • Danish: fire
• Gothic: 𐍆𐌹𐌳𐍅𐍉𐍂 (fidwōr)
  • Crimean Gothic: fyder

References

1. Ringe, Donald (2006) From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic (A Linguistic History of English; 1)‎, Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN