The Caland System and the Germanic Third Weak Verb Class

Abstract

Abstract The core stative verbs of the Gmc. 3rd weak class, whose stem is controversially reconstructed as *-ē- or *-ai-, do not, it is argued, continue PIE primary verbs but rather arose as denominatives that encapsulated the morphosyntactic properties of their base noun. Caland system relics in the lexical families of these verbs imply the Caland decasuative mechanism in Pre-Gmc. The likely starting point was 3sg. *-eh1-ye-ti, from the instr. sg. -eh1 of a root noun X and meaning 'is by/with X'. As oblique cases of root nouns were replaced in Gmc. by thematic dat. sg. -ai and instr. sg. -ō, Pre-Gmc. denominative verb stem -eh1- (-ē-) would likewise be renewed to Gmc. -ai- or -ō-, the latter opening up a transfer path for verbs from the 3rd weak ai-class to the 2nd weak ō-class. The 1st weak ja-forms found in some 3rd weak verbs likely arose via a different path offered by existing paradigm-overlap rules. Eventual loss of decasuative productivity explains why stative 3rd weak verbs, always few in numbe...