Wurdahuzdą: Proto-Germanic dictionary

suffix adj an/īn-stem forms comparative adjectives, equivalent to English “-er” or “more”, with the sense ‘more X, X-er’, originally with some a-stem adjectives From a Proto-Germanic innovation built on the model of the inherited comparative suffix *-izô, with the corresponding superlative *-ōstaz formed secondarily after *-ōzô in the same way that *-istaz was formed from *-izô. The inherited model ultimately continues Proto-Indo-European *-yos- ~ *-is-, the primary comparative/elative suffix. In PGmc, the zero-grade *-is- was generalized in the comparative; since the pre-Verner accent fell on the root, the suffixal *s became *z by Verner’s Law, yielding *-izô. Fulk 2018: 218–20 Meier-Brügger 2003: 219–22 Ringe 2017: 316–17. The long vowel of *-ōzô is specifically Germanic. Fulk 2018: 218 follows the traditional explanation that *-ōz- originated when comparative *-iz was added to adverbs in *-ō, after which the resulting adverbial comparative was extended to adjectives. Ringe 2017: 317 is more cautious, saying that the exact preform is not recoverable, but the suffix complex appears to have arisen by contraction with a preceding vowel and then spread by morphological remodeling. As a result, *-ōzô has no exact non-Germanic cognate Fulk 2018: 218–19 Meier-Brügger 2003: 220–22. In PGmc, *-izô was used with i-, u-, and ja-stem adjectives and also with some a-stems, whereas *-ōzô was restricted to a/ō-stems. The distribution among a/ō-stem adjectives was partly lexical and analogical rather than fully predictable. In the Northwest Germanic branches, *-ōzô/*-ōstaz became the normal productive pattern, while *-izô/*-istaz often survived only in relic forms Fulk 2018: 218–20 Ringe 2017: 317.