Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/selh

This Proto-West 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-West Germanic

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *selhaz.

Noun

*selh m^[1]

seal (animal)

Inflection

Masculine a-stem
	Singular
Nominative	*selh
Genitive	*selhas
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	*selh	selhō, selhōs
Accusative	*selh	*selhā
Genitive	*selhas	*selhō
Dative	*selhē	*selhum
Instrumental	*selhu	*selhum

Descendants

Old English: seolh
- Middle English: *selh, sele
  - Early Scots: selich
    - Scots: selch, selkie, silkie
  - English: seal
Old Frisian: *selch
- North Frisian: selich
Old Saxon: *selh, *selah
- Middle Low German: sēl, sale
  - Plautdietsch: Säajel
  - ⇒ Low German: saalhund
Old Dutch: *selh
- Middle Dutch: sēel, sāel, sēle
Old High German: selah
- Middle High German: sëleh
  - German: Seel (obsolete)
    - ⇒ German: Seelhund ⇒ Seehund

References

^ Ringe, Donald, Taylor, Ann (2014) The Development of Old English (A Linguistic History of English; 2), Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 307: “PWGmc *selh”

[1] Ringe, Donald, Taylor, Ann (2014) The Development of Old English (A Linguistic History of English; 2), Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 307: “PWGmc *selh”

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