Wurdahuzdą: Proto-Germanic dictionary — *aikwernôScott K. ShayWardja Presshttps://protogermanic.org/pgmc_aikwernô
Single-entry extract from the dictionary. Cross-references to other entries point to their identifiers in the full dictionary.
The Proto-Germanic n-Stems: A Study in Diachronic MorphophonologyGuusKroonenRodopi2011aEtymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11)GuusKroonenBrill2013Encyclopedia of Indo-European CultureJames P.MalloryDouglas Q.AdamsFitzroy Dearborn Publishers1997Der Übergang von idg. -w- zu germ. -k- und -gElmarSeeboldIndogermanische Forschungen871172–1941982gwiwersquirrelviverraferretvoverė̃squirrelwewaresquirrel*h₂eyg-to stir, set in motion*wer-/*h₂uer-squirrel, marten*věvericasquirreleihhurno/eihhornosquirrelEichhörnchensquirrel
nounmasculinean-stemsquirrelFrom a reduplicated pre-Germanic animal name, *h₂éi-h₂ur- ~ *h₂i-h₂ur-ó-s (‘squirrel, small furry animal’, traditionally reconstructed as *wer-wer- or *we(i)-wer-), yielding Early Germanic *aikwur- ~ *īkuraz-, from Proto-Indo-European root *wer-/*h₂uer-Kroonen 2011a: 263–66Kroonen 2013: 10–11Seebold 1982: 175–76. Cognates include Lithuanian voverė̃, Old Prussian weware, Proto-Slavic *věverica, Welsh gwiwer, and Latin viverra, suggesting an inherited IE zoonym whose meaning may originally have been broader than ‘squirrel’ alone Kroonen 2011a: 263–66Mallory & Adams 1997: 540. The older analysis as a compound of *aiks (‘oak’) + **wernô (‘squirrel, small, furred animal’) is semantically attractive and probably influenced later forms such as Old High German eihhurno/eihhornoand German Eichhörnchen, but it does not explain the North Germanic *ī-/*i- variants or the internal ablaut. It is likely a secondary folk etymology. The proposed connection with *aikulaz and PIE root *h₂eyg- is unlikely Kroonen 2011a: 263–66Kroonen 2013: 10–11.