< Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic

Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/Austrǭ

This Proto-Germanic entry contains reconstructed words 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 *h₂ews- (“dawn”) or *h₂wes- (“to dawn”).

If the ancestral formation is *h₂ewsreh₂, Lithuanian aušrà, dial. auštrà (“dawn”), is identical in formation, as is Ancient Greek αὔρᾱ (aúrā, “(esp. cool) breeze, fresh air of the morning”), if from Proto-Greek *aúhrā (< *h₂éwsreh₂). Sanskrit उस्रा (usrā́-, “dawn, morning”) (from *h₂usreh₂) only differs by the zero-grade in the root.

Also compare Proto-Slavic *utro (“morning, dawn”) (with variants including *ustro, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *auš(t)ra- (“dawn, morning”)) and Albanian err (“darkness”) (if from *ausra (“twilight”)). For the epenthetic -t- in Proto-Germanic (also widespread in Balto-Slavic), compare *þimistraz (“dark, dusky”).

All of these may go back to a Proto-Indo-European adjective *h₂us-ró- (> Sanskrit उस्र (usrá-, “reddish, ruddy, bright, matutinal”)) ~ *h₂éws-ro- (“of the dawn or morning, matutinal; eastern”), derived from a r-stem noun *h₂us-r- (forms belonging to such a formation are attested in the oldest Vedic[1]), explaining the differences in ablaut and gender. Proto-Celtic *wāsrī from *h₂wōsrih₂ (> Old Irish fáir) is close as well.

See also the noun *h₂éwsōs and its descendants, including Latin Aurōra, Ancient Greek Ἠώς (Ēṓs).

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈɑu̯s.trɔ̃ː/

Proper noun

*Austrǭ f [2]

  1. Easter, springtime
  2. (disputed) The name of a goddess of spring and fertility.

Inflection
ōn-stemDeclension of *Austrǭ (ōn-stem)
singular
nominative *Austrǭ
vocative *Austrǭ
accusative *Austrōnų
genitive *Austrōniz
dative *Austrōni
instrumental *Austrōnē

Descendants

References
  1. Mayrhofer, Manfred (1992) Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen [Etymological Dictionary of Old Indo-Aryan] (in German), volume 1, Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, page 236
  2. Kroonen, Guus (2013), “*austrōn-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11), Leiden, Boston: Brill, page 43
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