*-hw
Runic: ᚺᚹ Pronunciation: /xʷ/particle
Function
- joins words, phrases, and clauses
- forms distributives from interrogatives
Etymology
From Proto-Indo-European enclitic *-kʷe, the short form associated with the older coordinating particle *-(s)kʷe. (Dunkel 2014: 442–46). The development is regular: PIE *kʷ > Proto-Germanic *hw, with loss of final *-e in clitic position (Ringe 2017: 142). Gothic preserves the suffix as -h after vowels and -uh after consonants. Dunkel (2014: 701–702) derives the fuller PIE particle *-(s)kʷe ultimately from a fossilized verbal form of the root *sekʷ-. Cognate with Vedic Sanskrit -श्च (-śca), Avestan 𐬗𐬁- (-cā), Ancient Greek τε (te), Latin -que, Oscan -𐌐 (-p), -𐌐𐌄 (-pe), Celtiberian -kue, and Old Irish -ch-, all meaning ‘and’ or having a coordinating function.
Usage
This was an enclitic particle, so it was attached to the word it connected rather than standing before it. In its older coordinating use, the first item was normally left unmarked and the suffix was attached to the second: schematically, A B-hw meant ‘A and B’. With three or more items, the suffix could be attached to each item after the first: A B-hw C-hw meant ‘A, B, and C’.
Descendants
- -𐌿𐌷 (-uh) (Gothic)