# Origin and development of feminine -a (-α,-η) ending?



## Villeggiatura

Is it safe to say that the feminine -a ending in many European languages was influenced by the Latin feminine -a ending, and the Latin -a was influenced by the Greek -η & -α ?

In Greek, -ος was often both masculine and feminine (e.g., βάρβαρος, θαλάσσιος) before -η & -α for the feminine prevailed (βάρβαρη, θαλάσσια) -- was there foreign influence?


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## ahvalj

No, it was a parallel development in various Indo-European languages, not influenced by Greek or Latin in any way. The widespread feminine suffix in Proto-Indo-European was _*-ehₐ- _(*_-hₐ-_), which regularly produced _ā _(_a_) in all known daughter languages (also _*ihₐ>ī, *uhₐ>ū,_ hence e. g. the Old Church Slavonic _алдии/aldiji_ "ладья" and _свекры/svekry_ "свекровь"). In some of them this _ā_ could later develop further, e. g. in Late Common Germanic it became _*ō,_ then shortened to _u_ in West and North Germanic and attested at this stage e. g. in Runic Norse (_minu_ "mine", _liubu_ "dear") and Old English (_ȝiefu_ "gift", _lacu_ "lake", _nosu_ "nose", _wucu_ "week"); likewise in Oscan and Umbrian (Oscan _viú_ "via", _molto_ "multa", _allo_ "alia"; Umbrian _vesklu_ "vascula", _mutu_ "multa").

The Greek _-ος_ for both masculine and feminine is characteristic of compound adjectives.

Interestingly, Semitic independently developed the feminine _-a _(mostly from _-at-_ as far as I imagine).


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## Villeggiatura

Were the forms of Germanic feminine names ending in -a mostly modelled after Latin?
e.g., _Brunhilda_, sister of _Galswintha_

How (un)common were masculine Germanic words and names ending in -a?
e.g., _Offa_, an Anglo-Saxon king (_bretwalda_), a descendant of _Eowa_; _Eowa_, son of King _Pybba_ and brother of King _Penda_


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## ahvalj

Villeggiatura said:


> Were the forms of Germanic feminine names ending in -a mostly modelled after Latin?
> e.g., Brunhilda, sister of Galswintha


In East Germanic, including Gothic, _*-ō>a_ (_giba_ "gift", _meina_ "mine", _airþa_ "earth"). In Old High German and Old Saxon, the old Nom. Sg. in this declension type was mostly leveled after the Acc. Sg. _-a_ (_geba/geƀa_ "gift").



Villeggiatura said:


> How (un)common were masculine Germanic words and names ending in -a?
> e.g., Offa, an Anglo-Saxon king (bretwalda), a descendant of Eowa; Eowa, son of King Pybba and brother of King Penda


They were extremely common, but they don't belong to the same declension as _terra. _This _-a_ emerged in the 1st millennium as the final vowel of the masculine _n_-stems (the proper ending was zero), which developed from Common Germanic _*-ȇ _and *_-ȏ _[with overlong vowels] or _*-ēn_ and _*-ōn _[with long vowels + _n_] (some IE dialects dropping _-n_ like in Latin, cp. _Platō,_ others retaining it like in Greek, cp. _Πλάτων_). In the attested languages of the 1st millennium, the final vowel was _-a_ in Gothic, Runic Norse and Old English, _-i_ in Norse and -_o_ in Old High German and Old Saxon, cp. the Nom. Sg. of "rooster, cock": Gothic _hana,_ Norse _hani,_ Old English _hana,_ Old High German and Old Saxon _hano_ (Acc. Sg.: Gothic _hanan,_ Norse _hana,_ Old English _hanan,_ Old High German _hanon~hanun,_ Old Saxon _hanon~hanan_). The same types characterize the weak adjectives, e. g. Nom. Sg. masc. of "blind": Gothic _blinda,_ Norse _blindi,_ Old English _blinda,_ Old High German _blinto,_ Old Saxon _blindo.

_
*P. S.* Some amendments and explanations to the Germanic forms.

The Gothic _-a _can't go back to either overlong vowel since these are preserved as long vowels in this language, e. g. the adverbs on _-o_ and the Gen. Pl. on _-e_ (the letters _e_ and _o_ mean long vowels in Gothic), i. e. they have lost one length unit (one mora). In contrast, both _*-ōn_ and _*-ēn_ are possible predecessors: for the former, we have the Acc. Sg. of the _ā_-stems: _*ǥeƀōn>giba,_ for the latter, we have the Gothic _broþar<*ƀrōþēr, _which differs only in the preservation of _-r _vs. the regular loss of _*-n._

In contrast, the Old High German and Old Saxon forms can't descend from _*-ōn,_ since we have _*ǥeƀōn>geba/geƀa,_ and from _*-ēn,_ since we have *_ƀrōþēr>bruoder/brôthar _(and, overall, _e_ can't produce _o_). The only source of the final _o_ in these languages must be the overlong (trimoraic) Common Germanic _*ȏ,_ cp. also the adverbs Old High German _hôho, baldo, starko, lango_ (this type is usually explained as the former Abl. Sg. of the thematic stems, cp. the preclassical Latin _-ōd_ from the contracted PIE _*-o-ed;_ Latin has this type as well [_rarō : rarē, certō : certē_], but prefers _-ē < -ēd < *-e-ed,_ cp. the preclassical _facilumed>facillimē_ and _rected>rēctē; _this latter variant also exists in Germanic, cp. Gothic _sware,_ Old English _bráde, déope, swéte_).


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## Villeggiatura

Are there Germanic languages where -
the spelling of feminine -a and masculine -a ending of high frequency words is largely preserved?
many masculine -a ending names remain popular (-a spelling preserved)?


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## ahvalj

Villeggiatura said:


> Are there Germanic languages where -
> the spelling of feminine -a and masculine -a ending of high frequency words is largely preserved?
> many masculine -a ending names remain popular (-a spelling preserved)?


The historical feminine _a_-ending (of the _terra-_type) has disappeared in all modern Germanic languages.

Swedish and Icelandic have new _a_-feminines (and _a_-neutra) in the former _n_-declension, cp. for the feminines: Swedish and Icelandic _tunga_ "tongue" (Gothic _tuggo_), Swedish _vecka, _Icelandic _vika_ "week" (Gothic _wiko), _Swedish_ stjärna, _Icelandic _stjarna _"star" (Gothic _stairno_), Swedish and Icelandic _gata_ "street" (Gothic _gatwo_).

For the neutra: Swedish _öga,_ Icelandic _auga_ "eye" (Gothic _augo_), Swedish _hjärta,_ Icelandic _hjarta_ "heart" (Gothic _hairto_), Swedish _öra,_ Icelandic _eyra_ "ear" (Gothic _auso_).


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## Gavril

In languages that did not preserve -_a_ as a feminine marker (and in non-IE languages that never had it), the preference for -_a_ in female names seems very likely to be due to the influence of international names ending in -_a_ (many/most of which acquired their -_a_ through Latin/Greek).

For example, Icelandic does not have a consistent marker of feminine gender (due to the loss of final vowels), but many female names ending in -_a_ have been coined from native elements: _Geira_ (< _geir_ "spear"; also a masculine name), _Jökla_ (< _jökull_ "glacier"), _Svana_ (< _svanur_ "swan"), etc. These names follow the pattern of international names like _Anna_, _María_ (both quite popular in Iceland) and so on.


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## ahvalj

Gavril said:


> In languages that did not preserve -_a_ as a feminine marker (and in non-IE languages that never had it), the preference for -_a_ in female names seems very likely to be due to the influence of international names ending in -_a_ (many/most of which acquired their -_a_ through Latin/Greek).
> 
> For example, Icelandic does not have a consistent marker of feminine gender (due to the loss of final vowels), but many female names ending in -_a_ have been coined from native elements: _Geira_ (< _geir_ "spear"; also a masculine name), _Jökla_ (< _jökull_ "glacier"), _Svana_ (< _svanur_ "swan"), etc. These names follow the pattern of international names like _Anna_, _María_ (both quite popular in Iceland) and so on.


I agree with this observation in general, but in case of Icelandic I suspect that the historical core of female names on _-a_ continues the Common Germanic type represented by _Fríða_ — _"short for female names ending in fríðr "beautiful, beloved""_ (Frida - Wiktionary), cp. also _Hilda, Berta, Gerda. _Thus, _Geira_ may be derived from _Fríðgeir_. This type is somewhat parallel to the colloquial Germanic male names and nicknames on -CCV, cp. Old High German _Otto_ from _Ottokar _(<*_Auđawakraz _"wealth-watchful") and _Otmar _(<*_Auđamēraz _"wealth-famous") or modern Swedish _Adde_ (from _Adolf_), _Fredde_ (from _Fredrik_) and _Ville_ (of _Vilhelm_) and of course the English _Addie,_ _Freddie_ and _Willie_. The male names of this type are very abundant in the sources, e. g. for Old English we have: _Adda, Addi, Babba, Becca, Betti, Bunna, Blecca, Bynni, Cudda, Dodda, Drabba, Dunna, Durre, Feggo, Godda, Golla, Hadda, Hyssa, Lenna, Ludda, Mocca, Obba, Padda, Pubba, Rippa, Sebbe, Tæbba, Tigga, Tridda, Ubba, Ucca, Utta, Wegga, Willa, Wynna_ (cited from _Макаев ЭА · 1970 · Структура слова в индоевропейских и германских языках: _121). Female names of this kind are naturally much more rare in the sources.


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## Gavril

ahvalj said:


> I agree with this observation in general, but in case of Icelandic I suspect that the historical core of female names on _-a_ continues the Common Germanic type represented by _Fríða— "short for female names ending in fríðr "beautiful, beloved""_



-_fríður_ is a common second element in female names (_Jófríður_, _Snæfríður_, etc.), as is e.g. -_heiður _(_Móheiður_, _Gunnheiður,_ etc.), which exists alongside the name _Heiða_. This pattern does not apply to _geir_- (_Geira_),_ jökul_- (_Jökla_) or _svan_- (_Svana_), as far as I know, although _geir-_ does show up as an element in male names (_Fríðgeir_, _Hólmgeir_, etc.).

It's not impossible that all of these -_a_ names are based on an old Germanic model and not (to any significant degree) on international names like _Anna _/ _María _/ etc. If this were the case, though, then I would expect these -_a_ names to be attested very early (rather than proliferating in the last few centuries).


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## ahvalj

Gavril said:


> -_fríður_ is a common second element in female names (_Jófríður_, _Snæfríður_, etc.), as is e.g. -_heiður _(_Móheiður_, _Gunnheiður,_ etc.), which exists alongside the name _Heiða_. This pattern does not apply to _geir_- (_Geira_),_ jökul_- (_Jökla_) or _svan_- (_Svana_), as far as I know, although _geir-_ does show up as an element in male names (_Fríðgeir_, _Hólmgeir_, etc.).
> 
> It's not impossible that all of these -_a_ names are based on an old Germanic model and not (to any significant degree) on international names like _Anna _/ _María _/ etc. If this were the case, though, then I would expect these -_a_ names to be attested very early (rather than proliferating in the last few centuries).


Don't you think that these _a_-feminines may have been home names with little chance of being exposed in the texts? Overall, how did bearers of all these names like_ Otto_ address their women?


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## Gavril

ahvalj said:


> Don't you think that these _a_-feminines may have been home names with little chance of being exposed in the texts? Overall, how did bearers of all these names like_ Otto_ address their women?



Some of these names in -_a_ could be old (e.g. _Fríða_ or _Heiða_). But, if most names in -_a_ appeared in records in the past two centuries (perhaps the records show otherwise), then the most straightforward explanation for this seems to be recent analogy based on more common female names ending in -_a --_ _Anna _and _María_ being among the most common of these (not to mention shortened forms like _Stina_ < _Kristina_ which are common in mainland Scandinavian).

I didn't mention this earlier, but names like _Jökla_, _Svana_ and _Geira_ all have masculine counterparts (_Jökull_, _Svanur_, _Geir_) that differ only in the lack of the feminine marker, whereas _Heiða_/_Hilda_/_Fríða_ do not: in fact, _Fríður_/_Hildur_/_Heiður_ are also female names, despite the usually-masculine -_ur_ ending.


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## ahvalj

Interestingly, the feminine Nom. Sg. _-a_ in inherited words (albeit again only in the nouns of the  former _n_-declension) has also persisted at the very opposite end of the Germanic area: in some Allemannic dialects of Switzerland, especially in Walser  (Walser German - Wikipedia & Walliserdeutsch – Wikipedia), e. g. _Zunga_ "tongue" (Icelandic and Swedish _tunga_).


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## jmx

ahvalj said:


> The historical feminine _a_-ending (of the _terra-_type) has disappeared in all modern Germanic languages.


Do you mean that the final -e of many German feminine nouns is not related to the thematic vowel a/ā of the Latin first declension? I had always thought they had a common origin.


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## ahvalj

jmx said:


> Do you mean that the final -e of many German feminine nouns is not related to the thematic vowel a/ā of the Latin first declension? I had always thought they had a common origin.


Well, literally I meant that modern Germanic languages have not preserved the ending _-a_ cognate to the one in the Latin _terra_-type (as the question was about this sound as the feminine marker). The German ending in the words like _Erde _is in any case modified.

Concerning its origin. First of all, the Latin _-a_ in the Nom. Sg. of the I declension is enigmatic as the etymological ending should have been **_-ā_ (attested everywhere else, including Oscan and Umbrian): the traditional explanation is that the short vowel was taken from the Voc. Sg. (like in the Lesbian dialect of Greek); a newer theory suggests that it is a Proto-Indo-European archaism reflecting the old suffix in the zero grade (_*-hₐ_), lost elsewhere. In any case, the Latin _-a_ is not directly cognate to anything but the ending in Lesbian in the former scenario.

Second, _*-ā_ became *_-ō_ in Common Germanic, and to the time of the West and North Germanic texts of the first millennium it further became _-u_ or disappeared (the same happened to the homonymous ending of the neuter Nom./Acc. Pl.). The ending _-u_ is directly attested in Runic Norse (_laþu_) and in Old English after short syllables (_nosu_ "nose"), and it causes certain phonetic changes in Viking Norse (_nǫs_ "nostril" with the labialization _a>ǫ_ before the former _u_). In Old High German and Old Saxon, we find _-a_ (_erda_), but the problem is that it can't have originated from _*-ō:_ the neuter ending in the Nom.-Acc. Pl. in Old Saxon regularly produces -_u_ after short vowels and disappears after long ones (in Old High German the zero ending is generalized), and the same should have occurred in the Nom. Sg. of the _ā_-stems. The traditionally accepted explanation is that this ending was taken from the Acc. Sg., where for some unknown reasons _*-ōn_ produced _-a_ (the same outcome is found in the verbal endings: Praes. Sg. 1 _*-ō>-u,_ but weak Praet. Sg. 1 _*-ōn>-a,_ cp. Late Common Germanic _*laǥjō : *laǥiđōn_ and Old High German _leggu_ _:_ _legita _"I lay" : "I laid"). If this is true, the Old High German and Old Saxon _-a_ in the _ā-_declension is cognate to the Latin Acc. Sg. ending _-am _(<*-_ām_)_._

Third, the modern German feminine _-e_ can come from three sources. In _Erde_ it indeed comes from _-a_ (_erda_), and these words belonged to the _ā_-declension. In _Ende_ it comes from _-i_ (_enti_), and these words belonged to the _īn_-declension (a Germanic innovation). Finally, in _Zunge_ it comes from _-a_ (_zunga_), but these words belonged to the _ōn_-declension (cognate to the Latin type of _carō_ and _virgō_).


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## jmx

I should have clarified that I know next to nothing about Indo-European historical linguistics. My question stems from the observation that in languages like German or Catalan (and we could include Arabic too!), there seems to be a pattern by which the difference between feminine nouns and other nouns is that they have a particular sound (not necessarily a vowel) added at the end. If there isn't a common origin, could we speak perhaps of a "universal" for languages with gender?


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## ahvalj

jmx said:


> I should have clarified that I know next to nothing about Indo-European historical linguistics. My question stems from the observation that in languages like German or Catalan (and we could include Arabic too!), there seems to be a pattern by which the difference between feminine nouns and other nouns is that they have a particular sound (not necessarily a vowel) added at the end. If there isn't a common origin, could we speak perhaps of a "universal" for languages with gender?


I would say this is a casual outcome of phonetic developments that characterize some languages. In modern Lithuanian the masculine forms of the paired nouns are often one sound longer: Lithuanian _vairuotojas_ "male driver" but _vairuotoja_ "female driver". In Italian, Spanish and Portuguese they may be of the same length: Spanish and Portuguese _político_ "male politician" : _política_ "female politician", Italian and Spanish _maestro_ "male teacher" : _maestra_ "female teacher".

*P. S. *In modern Icelandic, the counterpart of the Latin _lupus_-type has the ending -_ur_ in the Nominative Singular (cp. _úlfur_ "wolf"), whereas in the counterpart of the _rosa_-type the overt ending has disappeared (_kinn_ "cheek"), so we find here the contrary situation when many masculine nouns are longer than feminine ones in their citation form. Again, this is the consequence of the phonetic laws that operated in North Germanic during the last two millennia.

However, if we look at the history of the languages in West Eurasia, then I agree, feminine nouns were often formed from masculine ones by means of certain suffixes, like _-at-_ and _-āt-_ in Semitic or _*-hₐ-_ (_*-ehₐ-, *-ihₐ-, *-uhₐ-_) in Indo-European. In Semitic this always produces a longer word, while in Indo-European it depended on the masculine stem: whether the feminine suffix was added to it (Latin _victor : victrīx_) or replaced its final element (Latin _bonus : bona, dominus : domina, equus : equa_).

A different approach existed in Ancient Egyptian, where both genders were marked: the masculine had the suffix _-u_ and the feminine had _-at (*sanu _"brother" : _*sanat_ "sister").


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## jmx

ahvalj said:


> ... In Italian, Spanish and Portuguese they may be of the same length: Spanish and Portuguese _político_ "male politician" : _política_ "female politician", Italian and Spanish _maestro_ "male teacher" : _maestra_ "female teacher".


However, at least for Spanish, you can add -a to obtain feminine nouns and adjectives out of masculine forms ending in a consonant:

capitán, capitana (captain)
alemán, alemana (German)
doctor, doctora (doctor)
bailarín, bailarina (dancer)
español, española (Spanish)
francés, francesa (French)
... and many more.

I think I have a much better understanding of the question now thanks to your very informative posts. Thank you.


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## Nino83

jmx said:


> masculine forms ending in a consonant


This is due to the loss of final unstressed vowels (but "a") after some consonants (n, l, r, s, z) in Spanish and Portuguese. The number of these words is even bigger in those languages that lost almost completely these vowels (like in Catalan, Gallo-Italian languages, Occitan, French).


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## ahvalj

Concerning the masculine/feminine pairs: Lithuanian and Latvian have developed a very efficient system when virtually any noun denoting actors exists in two automatically formed and stylistically neutral gender forms, a real feminist ideal. For example, the international words in Lithuanian: _aktorius/aktorė, prezidentas/prezidentė, advokatas/advokatė, lyderis/lyderė, liberalas/liberalė, demonstrantas/demonstrantė, komunistas/komunistė._ This resembles the Italian/Spanish/Portuguese system with the exception that there is no problem with the numerous outcomes of the Latin III declension _(presidente). _In Latvian, this system embraces even most surnames: _Čaikovskis/Čaikovska, Jansons/Jansone, Kleinbergs/Kleinberga._


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## ahvalj

ahvalj said:


> The traditionally accepted explanation is that this ending was taken from the Acc. Sg., where for some unknown reasons _*-ōn_ produced _-a_ (the same outcome is found in the verbal endings: Praes. Sg. 1 _*-ō>-u,_ but weak Praet. Sg. 1 _*-ōn>-a,_ cp. Late Common Germanic _*laǥjō : *laǥiđōn_ and Old High German _leggu_ _:_ _legita _"I lay" : "I laid"). If this is true, the Old High German and Old Saxon _-a_ in the _ā-_declension is cognate to the Latin Acc. Sg. ending _-am _(<*-_ām_)_._


This development _*-ōn>-a_ vs. _*-ō>-u_ is so strange that I decided to check what happens with these endings in other parts of the Germanic grammar. It turns out that this divergent development indeed took place (it concerns only the dimoraic _*ō_ from the PIE short vowel + laryngeal; the trimoraic _*ȏ,_ from the lengthened grade and from contraction, develops differently).

The monosyllabic feminine demonstrative pronoun:

Proto-Indo-European: Nom. Sg. _*sehₐ_>_*sā_ — Acc. Sg. _*tehₐm̥>*tām_ (for this latter development see Stang's law - Wikipedia)
Late Common Germanic: *_sǭ_ — *_þǭn_
Gothic: _so_ — _þo_ (_o_ is a long vowel in Gothic; final _-n_ is always lost in this language)
Old Icelandic: _su — þa_ ([secondarily ?] long when stressed: _sú — þá_)

With _-ı̯-_ added sometimes after the initial consonant in other languages
Old English: _sēo_ — _þā_
Old Frisian: _thiu_ — _thā_
Old Saxon: _thiu_ — _thia_
Old High German: _diu_ — _dea_
(_th/d_ in the Old Frisian, Old Saxon and Old High German Nominative is secondary after the oblique cases).


The feminine forms of strong adjectives:

Late Common Germanic: _*blindǭ — blindǭn_
Gothic: _blinda — blinda_
Old Icelandic: _spǫk — spaka_ (the former presence of _*ǭ>*u_ in the Nominative is detectable by the _u_-umlaut; the final vowel in Acc. was retained because it was nasalized at the time of the syncope)
Old English: _blacu_ — _blace_ (_-u_ retained after short syllables)
Old Frisian: _grāt~grāte — grāte_
Old Saxon: _blind — blinda _(the final vowel in Acc. was retained because it was nasalized at the time of the syncope)
Old High German: _blint — blinta _(the final vowel in Acc. was retained because it was nasalized at the time of the syncope)


The Sg. 1 of the thematic Present:

Late Common Germanic *-_ǭ_
Gothic: _-a_
Early Runic Norse: _-u (gibu)_
Old Icelandic: -∅, _-u-_ (retained in the reflexives: _-u-mk_)
Old English: _-u_ (in Anglian)
Old Frisian: _-e_
Old Saxon:_ -u_
Old High German: _-u_


The Sg. 1 of the weak Preterite:

Late Common Germanic: *_-đǭn_
Gothic: _-da_
Early Runic Norse: _-do (satido)_
Old Icelandic: _-ða_
Old English: _-de_
Old Frisian: _-de_
Old Saxon: _-da_
Old High German: _-ta
_
*P. S. *_ǭ_ is not a nasalized vowel but the Late Common Germanic open pronunciation of the long _o_ (unfortunately the hook below the vowel can be used in both functions). This open pronunciation is implied by the fate of the vowels in early loanwords from and to Latin, e. g. the Gothic _Rūmai _"to Rome",  _rūmonim_ "to Romans" (A Gothic Etymological Dictionary; i. e. the Latin long _ō_ was closer to the Germanic _ū_ than to _ǭ, _which, conversely, was able to convey the Latin _ā_) and Suebic _Bācēnis_ (Caesar: Bellum Gallicum VI) "beech [forest]" for _*bǭk- _heard by the Romans as having a vowel closer to the Latin _ā_ than _ō._


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## ahvalj

Villeggiatura said:


> Were the forms of Germanic feminine names ending in -a mostly modelled after Latin?
> e.g., _Brunhilda_, sister of _Galswintha_


Despite what I had written above, this statement is not without ground. I mean the earliest attestations of the Germanic female names like _Veleda_ (1st century). Since almost certainly all Germanic dialects at that period still retained the final long vowel in the _ā_-declension, and since this vowel must have been _*-ǭ_ (see P. S. in the previous post), the Germanic ending was probably associated by the Romans with the Latin _-a_ of the 1st declension, which was facilitated by the then-open pronunciation of the Germanic vowel (like in _Bācēnis_). Of course, I am speaking only of the Latin rendition of the Germanic names, which couldn't have any influence on the actual Germanic onomastics.


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