Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/nēþlō

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 *nēaną (“to sew”) +‎ *-þlō (“tool”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈnɛːθ.lɔː/

Noun

*nēþlō f[1]

needle

Inflection

The stem apparently had two Verner alternants, *nēþlō- and *nēdlō-, both still attested in West Germanic.

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants

Proto-West Germanic: *nāþlu
- Old English: nǣdl
  - Middle English: nedle
    - English: needle
    - Scots: nedil, neidil
- Old Frisian: nēdle, nēlde
  - West Frisian: niddel, nuddel, nille, nulle
  - Saterland Frisian: Näddele
- Old Saxon: nāthla
  - Middle Low German: nalde, natel; nadel (not found in most areas, rare elsewhere)
    - Low German: Nodel, Nadel (likely to be loaned from or influenced by German)
    - Plautdietsch: Notel
- Old Dutch: nālda
  - Middle Dutch: naelde
    - Dutch: naald
      - Afrikaans: naald
- Old High German: nādala, nālda
  - Middle High German: nādele, nālde
    - German: Nadel
    - Luxembourgish: Nol (< nālde)
    - Yiddish: נאָדל‎ (nodl)
Old Norse: nál
- Icelandic: nál
- Faroese: nál
- Norwegian: nål
- Elfdalian: ną̊l
- Old Swedish: nāl
  - Swedish: nål
- Old Danish: naal
  - Danish: nål
- Samic:
  - → Northern Sami: nállu
  - → Southern Sami: naaloe
Gothic: 𐌽𐌴𐌸𐌻𐌰 (nēþla)
→ Proto-Finnic: *nekla (see there for further descendants)

References

Kroonen, Guus (2013), “*nēþlō-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 388: “f. ʻneedleʼ”

[1] Kroonen, Guus (2013), “*nēþlō-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 388: “f. ʻneedleʼ”