Wurdahuzdą: Proto-Germanic dictionary — *fiþulǭScott K. ShayWardja Presshttps://protogermanic.org/pgmc_fiþulǭ
Single-entry extract from the dictionary. Cross-references to other entries point to their identifiers in the full dictionary.
catīllussmall bowl, dish, platestrātapaved roadvitulaa young cow, a female calf, a heifer
nounfeminineōn-stemfiddleProbably a native Proto-Germanic word from an onomatopoeic base: *fiþ- (compare English “fizz”) + a diminutive suffix (thus, ‘the little buzzing thing’). The internal *-þ-establishes that this word existed prior to the completion of Grimm’s Law. The traditional derivation from Medieval Latin vitula (‘a young cow, a female calf, a heifer’) is chronologically impossible, as such a borrowing would have entered Proto-Germanic with its hard dental stop intact (yielding **fitul-). Note, for example, Latin strāta (‘paved road’) → Proto-West Germanic *strātu (not **strōþa) and Latin catīllus (‘small bowl, dish, plate’) → *katilaz (not **haþilaz). In the reverse process, Proto-Germanic *þ was regularly hardened into t in Latin borrowings: Gothic *𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰𐍂𐌴𐌹𐌺𐍃 (*þiudareiks) > Latin Theodericus (pronounced as [tʰe.ɔ.dɛˈriː.kʊs] with a simple aspirated /t/).