Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/nahtigalā

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

From *naht (“night”) +‎ *galā (“singer”), from *galan (“to sing”).

Noun

*nahtigalā f[1]

nightingale

Inflection

ōn-stem
	Singular
Nominative	*nahtigalā
Genitive	*nahtigalōn
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	*nahtigalā	*nahtigalōn
Accusative	*nahtigalōn	*nahtigalōn
Genitive	*nahtigalōn	*nahtigalōnō
Dative	*nahtigalōn	*nahtigalōm
Instrumental	*nahtigalōn	*nahtigalōm

Alternative reconstructions

*nahtagalā

Descendants

Old English: nihtegale f, nihtegala m
- Middle English: nyghtgale, niȝtegale, nightegale, nightgale
  - English: nightgale (obsolete)
  - Scots: nychtgale
  - ⇒ Middle English: nyghtyngale, nightingale, niȝtingale, nyhtingale, nyȝtyngale, nightyngale
    - English: nightingale
    - Scots: nichtingale
Old Frisian: *nachtegāle
- Saterland Frisian: Noachtegoal
- West Frisian: geale, geal
Old Saxon: nahtagala, nahtigala
- Middle Low German: nachtegale
  - German Low German:
    East Frisian Low Saxon, Westphalian (Dortmundisch, Westmünsterländisch): Nachtigall
    Westphalian:
    Bentheimisch: Nachtigalle
    Westmünsterländisch: Nachtegall
  - Plautdietsch: Nachtigaul
  - → Icelandic: næturgali
  - → Faroese: náttargali
  - → Norwegian: nattergal
  - → Swedish: näktergal
  - → Danish: nattergal
  - → Gutnish: näktagal
Old Dutch: *nahtagala
- Middle Dutch: nachtegale, nachtegael
  - Dutch: nachtegaal
    - Afrikaans: nagtegaal
    - → West Frisian: nachtegael, nachtegeal, nachtegeale
Old High German: nahtigala, nahtagala
- Middle High German: nahtegal, nahtgal
  - German: Nachtigall
    - → Saterland Frisian: Nachtigal
  - ⇒ Luxembourgish: Nuechtegailchen

References

Friedrich Kluge (1989), “Nachtigall”, in Elmar Seebold, editor, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache [Etymological Dictionary of the German Language] (in German), 22nd edition, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN: “wg. *nahtigalōn”

[1] Friedrich Kluge (1989), “Nachtigall”, in Elmar Seebold, editor, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache [Etymological Dictionary of the German Language] (in German), 22nd edition, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN: “wg. *nahtigalōn”