Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/āmaitijā

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

Uncertain, possibly from:

• *ā- (“off, away”), unstressed *uʀ-, + *maitan (“to cut off”) +‎ *-jā (agent suffix);^[1][2][3]
• *āmā (“larva”) +‎ *maitan (“to cut off”) +‎ *-jā (agent suffix);^[4]
• or borrowed from a substrate language, compare Ancient Greek μίδᾱς (mídās, “a destructive insect in grains”), from hypothetical proto form *a-m-īd-.^[4]

Noun

*āmaitijā f^[2]

1. ant

Inflection

ōn-stem
	Singular
Nominative	*āmaitijā
Genitive	*āmaitijōn
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	*āmaitijā	*āmaitijōn
Accusative	*āmaitijōn	*āmaitijōn
Genitive	*āmaitijōn	*āmaitijōnō
Dative	*āmaitijōn	*āmaitijōm, *āmaitijum
Instrumental	*āmaitijōn	*āmaitijōm, *āmaitijum

Synonyms

• *miurijā

Descendants

• Old English: ǣmete, ǣmette, ǣmytte
  • Middle English: ampte, amte, emete, amete, emotte, emot, ante, empt, empte, amote
    • English: ant, emmet
    • Scots: emmot, emott, imat
    • ⇒ Yola: emothee
• Old Frisian:
  • North Frisian: ämel
  • West Frisian: eameler, eamel, eamelder
• Old Saxon: *āmētia
  • Middle Low German: êmete, emete, âmete, amete, âmente, êmte, empte, êmeke, emeke
    • German Low German:

      Altmärkisch: Emk, Êmk

      Westphalian:

      Dortmundisch: Hampelte, Ampelte

      Sauerländisch: Amperte

• Old Dutch: *āmēta
  • Middle Dutch: âmete, emte
    • Dutch: emt, empt (eastern dialects)
• Old High German: āmeiȥa
  • Middle High German: āmeiȥe
    • Alemannic German: Ameisse
    • Bavarian: Åmeisn, Omeis, Omoas
    • Cimbrian: amasa
    • German: Ameise, Emse (obsolete)
      • → Luxembourgish: Ameis
    • Hunsrik: Omeis
    • Luxembourgish: Omes (chiefly in Seechomes)
    • Central Franconian:

      Ripuarian: Secksoemel

    • → Limburgish: aomezeik

References

1. ^ Seebold, Elmar (1970), “MAIT-A- ‘abschneiden’”, in Vergleichendes und etymologisches Wörterbuch der germanischen starken Verben (Janua Linguarum. Series practica; 85) (in German), Paris, Den Haag: Mouton, →ISBN, page 343: “mait-jōn (f) W: ae. æ-mette ‘Ameise’ W; ahd. a-meiza ‘Ameise’”
2. Friedrich Kluge (1989), “Ameise”, in Elmar Seebold, editor, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache [Etymological Dictionary of the German Language] (in German), 22nd edition, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 24: “wg. *ǣ-maitjōn”
3. ^ Vladimir Orel (2003), “*maitanan”, in A Handbook of Germanic Etymology‎^[1], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 256
4. Kroonen, Guus (2013), “*amaitjo-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11)‎^[2], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 24