Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/agiþahsijā

This Proto-West 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-West Germanic

Alternative forms

*awiþahsijā

Etymology

From otherwise unattested *agi (“lizard, snake”), from Proto-Germanic *agiz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ógʷʰis, + *þehsan (whence Middle High German dehsan (“toswingle (flax)”), from *þehsaną, from Proto-Indo-European *tetḱ- (“to cut, hew”), +‎ *-jā.[1]

Noun

*agiþahsijā f[2]

lizard

Inflection

ōn-stem
	Singular
Nominative	*agiþahsijā
Genitive	*agiþahsijōn
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	*agiþahsijā	*agiþahsijōn
Accusative	*agiþahsijōn	*agiþahsijōn
Genitive	*agiþahsijōn	*agiþahsijōnō
Dative	*agiþahsijōn	*agiþahsijōm
Instrumental	*agiþahsijōn	*agiþahsijōm

Descendants

Old English: āþexe
- Middle English: aske, arske
  - English: ask, askard
  - Scots: ask, esk, awsk
Old Saxon: egithassa, ewidehsa
- Middle Low German: gedisse, egidesse
  - German Low German: Eevtaske, Heevtaske, Eevtask, Heevtask
  - Plautdietsch: Äajdakjs, Äajdakjsel
Old Dutch: *egithassa
- Middle Dutch: hāgetisse
  - Dutch: hagedis
    - Afrikaans: akkedis
    - Negerhollands: kakatės, kakketis
      - → Virgin Islands Creole: kakates (dated)
    - → Aukan: lagadisa
    - → Sranan Tongo: lagadisa
    - → West Frisian: hagedis
  - Limburgish: eektes, herdis, ees, redis
Old High German: egidehsa, ewidehsa
- Middle High German: egedëhse, eidëhse
  - Alemannic German: Heidëchsli
  - German: Eidechse, Echse
    - → Luxembourgish: Eidechs
  - Luxembourgish: Eederes (dated)
  - Vilamovian: edikjys
  - Yiddish: עקדיש‎ (ekdish, “scorpion”)

References

Orel, Vladimir (2003), “*aʒwi-þaxsjōn”, in A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 4
Friedrich Kluge (1989), “Eidechse”, in Elmar Seebold, editor, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache [Etymological Dictionary of the German Language] (in German), 22nd edition, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN, pages 168

[1] Orel, Vladimir (2003), “*aʒwi-þaxsjōn”, in A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 4

[2] Friedrich Kluge (1989), “Eidechse”, in Elmar Seebold, editor, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache [Etymological Dictionary of the German Language] (in German), 22nd edition, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN, pages 168