Reconstruction talk:Proto-West Germanic/diligōn

Both Philippa and Pfeifer, Dutch and German standard references respectively, say that the continental West Germanic word is from Old English, spread during the Anglo-Saxon missionary activities. Kolmiel (talk) 21:50, 9 December 2015 (UTC)

I have seen that as well; however, I would expect a borrowed Old High German form to maintain the initial d, at least in earlier attestations. Do you know of any that retain it? Leasnam (talk) 21:56, 9 December 2015 (UTC)

I would also not expect the Old English -ġ- ( = -j-) to strengthen to -g-; but I am not sure. Old High German also had alternative forms tilōn, tīlōn, fartīlēn as well... Leasnam (talk) 22:02, 9 December 2015 (UTC)

Philippa explains the -g- as a spelling pronunciation, which is possible. But -g- was a fricative in Old Saxon, Old Dutch and north-western OHG; so I don't think there's a probably to begin with. Loss/vowelisation of -g- as well as addition of unetymological -g- are both commonplace throughout West Germanic (including High German). Apart from that, the form MHG tiljen is in fact attested. As to the onset: The word is said to have been borrowed around 700. At that time the dialects that shifted *d > t, basically didn't have a [d] because Germanic *þ was still a fricative [θ~ð]. 92.218.236.92 22:34, 30 May 2022 (UTC)