*-itjaną

From Proto-Germanic *-itją + infinitive marker *-ną. The suffix belongs with Proto-Germanic *-atją / *-itją, a Weak class 1 verb-forming type whose final *-ją- continues the inherited Indo-European y-present/denominative-factitive suffix *-yé/ó- (Ringe 2017: 201). The preceding *-it- is from pre-Germanic *-id-, from older nominal stems in *-d- or thematicized *-do-, to which *-yé/ó- was added. Krahe & Meid (1969: §193) argue that the original basis of Germanic *-itją was a verbal *-yo-derivative of a nominal "*d-stem", where*-d- served a similar function to that of a *-t- extension. The comparison between Ancient Greek -άζω (-ázō) and -ίζω (-ízō), both of which are also formed from dental stems like *-ad-/*-id- + *-yō-, is both formally and functionally attractive. Krahe & Meid note, however, that the fact that these forms are so similar does not indicate that they represent a shared inheritance by Germanic and Greek (Krahe & Meid 1969: §193). The related nominal suffix PGmc *-atją / *-itją appears secondarily in action nouns and abstracts, apparently on the model of verbal nouns from *-atjaną / *-itjaną verbs (Krahe & Meid 1969: §133).