Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/hnakkô

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 *knog-, *kneg- (“back of the head, nape, neck”), from *ken- (“to press, pinch, buckle, kink”).

Kroonen reconstructs an etymon Proto-Indo-European *knékō, which he connects with Tocharian A kñuk (“neck”). German Hunke (“hillock”) might retain a trace of the original genitive. Compare Proto-Celtic *knokkos (“protuberance; hill”), which Kroonen suggests is borrowed from Germanic.[1]

Compare also the suffix *-kô, found in names of several other body parts.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈxnɑk.kɔːː/

Noun

*hnakkô m

(anatomy) the back of the neck; nape

Inflection

According to Kroonen, this noun had root vowel ablaut, resulting in a nominative singular in *hnekkô, a genitive singular in *hnukkaz, and an accusative plural in *hnakkunz.[2]

masculine an-stemDeclension of *hnakkô (masculine an-stem)
	singular	plural
nominative	*hnakkô	*hnakkaniz
vocative	*hnakkô	*hnakkaniz
accusative	*hnakkanų	*hnakkanunz
genitive	*hnakkiniz	*hnakkanǫ̂
dative	*hnakkini	*hnakkammaz
instrumental	*hnakkinē	*hnakkammiz

Related terms

*hnakkaz

Descendants

Proto-West Germanic: *hnakkō, *hnekkō
- Old English: *hnæcca, hnecca
  - Middle English: nekke, nake, nec, necke, nek, neke; nhicke, nykke
    - English: neck
    - Scots: neck
- Old Frisian: hnekka, nekke
  - North Frisian: neek, neeke, Nak
  - Saterland Frisian: Näcke, Näkke
  - West Frisian: nekke
- Old Saxon: *hnakko, *hnekko
  - Middle Low German: nacke, nëcke
    - German Low German: Nacke, Nack
    - Low German: nakke
    - Plautdietsch: Jenekj (?)
- Old Dutch: *nakko, nekko
  - Middle Dutch: nacke, nac, necke, nack, neck, nick
    - Dutch: nek
      - Afrikaans: nek
  - Limburgish: nak
- Old High German: *hnahho, hnach-, hnacch-, hnac, nach, nac, nak
  - Middle High German: knac, nacke, nac
    - German: Nacken
    - Vilamovian: naoka
    - Yiddish: נאַקן‎ (nakn)
Old Norse: hnakki
- Icelandic: hnakki
- Faroese: nakki
- Norwegian: nakke
- Old Swedish: nakke
  - Swedish: nacke
- Old Danish: nakkæ
  - Danish: nakke

References

Kroonen, Guus (2013), “*hnekkan- ~ *hnakka(n)-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 234
Kroonen, Guus (2011) The Proto-Germanic n-stems: A study in diachronic morphophonology, Amsterdam, New York: Rodopi, →ISBN, pages 167-169

[1] Kroonen, Guus (2013), “*hnekkan- ~ *hnakka(n)-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 234

[2] Kroonen, Guus (2011) The Proto-Germanic n-stems: A study in diachronic morphophonology, Amsterdam, New York: Rodopi, →ISBN, pages 167-169