Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/agu

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

Etymology

Unknown;[1] possibly from Proto-Germanic *agō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂oḱ-éh₂, from *h₂eḱ- (“sharp”) +‎ *-éh₂,[2] however the variant *ag-ad- ~ *ag-at- perhaps points to a substrate borrowing, compare *magu (“boy”), *magaþ (“girl”).

Noun

*agu f

magpie
Synonyms: *agastrijā, *agattjā

Inflection

ō-stem
	Singular
Nominative	*agu
Genitive	*agā
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	*agu	*agō
Accusative	*agā	*agā
Genitive	*agā	*agō
Dative	*agē	*agōm
Instrumental	*agu	*agōm

Related terms

*agastrijā
*agattjā

Descendants

Old English: agu
Old Frisian: *age
- ⇒ Old Frisian: *agke (diminutive)
  - West Frisian: akke
Old High German: aga
- Middle High German: age (glossed once)

References

Friedrich Kluge (1989), “Elster”, 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 175-176
Kroonen, Guus (2013), “*ag/kkōn-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 4

[1] Friedrich Kluge (1989), “Elster”, 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 175-176

[2] Kroonen, Guus (2013), “*ag/kkōn-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 4