*aizą

Runic: ᚨᛁᛉᚨ Pronunciation: /ˈɑi̯.zɑ̃/

noun · neuter · a-stem

Meanings

copper or bronze; by extension, metal, ore, and objects or money made from copper alloy

Etymology

From Early Germanic *ajaz ~ *ajiz, from Proto-Indo-European neuter s-stem *h₂éy-os ~ *h₂éy-es-os, possibly from a root *h₂ey- found also in *h₂ey-dʰh₁-. The inherited paradigm was reformulated in Proto-Germanic, probably with generalization of the oblique stem vocalism and subsequent remodeling: the inherited -s- was reinterpreted as part of the lexical stem, while the noun adopted the neuter a-stem declension (Kroonen 2013: s.v. *aiza-; Ringe 2017: 159, 310; Thorsø et al. 2023: 108). Cognate with Latin aes ~ aeris, Umbrian ahesnes, Oscan aizniō, Sanskrit अयस् (áyas), and Avestan -𐬀𐬌𐬌𐬀𐬵‎ (aiiah-) (de Vaan 2008: 27–28; Olander 2023: 101; Thorsø et al. 2023: 108). The wide distribution supports inheritance from Proto-Indo-European, but the original sense was probably ‘copper’ or more generally ‘metal’, rather than specifically ‘bronze’: ‘bronze’, ‘iron’, ‘ore’, and ‘money’ represent later adaptations to changing metallurgical traditions.

Declension

CaseSingularPlural
Nom.aiząaizō
Acc.aiząaizō
Gen.aizas, aizisaizǫ̂
Dat.aizaiaizamaz
Inst.aizōaizamiz
Voc.aiząaizō

Find a form

Descendants

  • *aiʀ (Proto-West Germanic)
    • *ēr (Old Dutch)
      • êer (Middle Dutch)
        • eer (Dutch)
  • *aiʀ (Proto-West Germanic)
    • ār (Old English)
      • ore, oure, or, oor, nore, noure (Middle English)
        • ore (English)
        • ure, uir (Scots)
  • *aiʀ (Proto-West Germanic)
    • *ār, ēr (Old Frisian)
      • Oare, Orre (Saterland Frisian)
  • *aiʀ (Proto-West Germanic)
    • ēr (Old High German)
      • er (Middle High German)
        • Eer (Alemannic German)
          • eerig (Alemannic German)
  • *aiʀ (Proto-West Germanic)
    • ēr (Old High German)
      • ērīn (Old High German)
        • ērīn (Middle High German)
          • ehern (German)
  • *aiʀ (Proto-West Germanic)
    • ēr (Old Saxon)
      • ēr (Middle Low German)
  • eir (Old Norse)
    • eir (Icelandic)
  • eir (Old Norse)
    • ir (Danish)
      • irr (Norwegian Bokmål)
  • eir (Old Norse)
    • eir (Norwegian Nynorsk)
      • eir (Norwegian Bokmål)
  • eir (Old Norse)
    • ēr (Old Swedish)
      • ärg (Swedish)
  • 𐌰𐌹𐌶 (aiz) (Gothic)

Explore/search these descendants

View on Wiktionary