Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/berkō

This Proto-Germanic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Germanic

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *bʰerHǵós. Cognate with Sanskrit भूर्ज (bhūrjá, “a species of birch”), Proto-Slavic *berza (“birch”).

Noun

*berkō f

birch
(Runic alphabet) name of the rune ᛒ (b)

Inflection

Declension of *berkō (ō-stem)
	singular	plural
nominative	*berkō	*berkôz
vocative	*berkō	*berkôz
accusative	*berkǭ	*berkōz
genitive	*berkōz	*berkǫ̂
dative	*berkōi	*berkōmaz
instrumental	*berkō	*berkōmiz

Derived terms

*birkijǭ

Descendants

Proto-West Germanic: *berku
- Old English: beorc
- Old Dutch: *berca
  - Middle Dutch: berke
    - Dutch: berk
      - Afrikaans: berk
- Old High German: birka, biricha
  - Middle High German: birke, birche
    - German: Birke
Old Norse: bjǫrk
- Icelandic: björk
- Faroese: bjørk
- Norwegian: bjørk; (dialectal) bjerk (< bjarkar), børk
  - → Danish: bjørk, bjerk
    - Norwegian Bokmål: bjørk, bjerk
- Elfdalian: byörk
- Old Swedish: biork
  - Swedish: björk
- Old Danish: birk, *biork
  - Danish: birk
- Gutnish: bjärk
- Scanian: birk