Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/magan

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 *maganą.

Verb

*magan

1. to be able, may

Inflection

*mag, *maht, *magun, *mahtā

This verb needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants

In all descendants but Old English, the infinitive/plural stem vowel was replaced with u (even then, most Middle English forms are from an Old English *mugan).

• Old English: magan, *mugan, *meġan
  • Middle English: mowen (mostly from analogical *mugan)
    • English: may
    • Scots: mey, may, ma
    • Yola: mye, mey, mai, maa, ma; meigh
• Old Frisian: muga
  • North Frisian:

    Föhr-Amrum: mei

    Mooring: mooge

  • Saterland Frisian: muuge
  • West Frisian: meie
• Old Saxon: mugan
  • Middle Low German: mogen, mögen
    • Low German: mögen, mägen

      German Low German: mögen

• Old Dutch: mugan
  • Middle Dutch: mōgen
    • Dutch: mogen
      • Afrikaans: mag
    • Limburgish: moge
• Old High German: mugan
  • Middle High German: mugen, mogen, magen, megen, mügen, mögen
    • Alemannic German: möge
    • Central Franconian: mugge
    • Cimbrian: mögan, möng
    • German: mögen
      • → Central Franconian: müjje
    • Rhine Franconian:

      Pennsylvania German: meege

    • Yiddish: מעגן (megn)