Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/arbaz
Proto-Germanic
Etymology
| PIE word |
|---|
| *h₃órbʰos |
From Proto-Indo-European *h₃órbʰos (“slave, servant, indentured worker; orphan; apprentice”), from *h₃erbʰ- (“to turn, change; to change ownership”).
It has been argued that the inherited meaning “orphan” gave way to “worker”, probably from orphans being used for forced labor by their caretakers, which is also implied by the Slavic meaning “servant, slave”. In this context it is not hard to see a connection with Proto-Germanic *arbaidiz (“labor, toil”), probably through a verb *arbijaną. On the other hand, “slave” may have been the original meaning, already extended to both orphans and workers by late PIE and then further to worker animals in Germanic; the original deverbal sense from “to turn, change” is more easily “one who is exchanged”. Slavery and the exchange of indentured servants were widespread practices in prehistoric societies across Eurasia.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈɑr.βɑz/
Noun
*arbaz m[1](North Germanic)
- worker
- working animal, draught animal; ox
Inflection
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | *arbaz | *arbōz, *arbōs |
| vocative | *arb | *arbōz, *arbōs |
| accusative | *arbą | *arbanz |
| genitive | *arbas, *arbis | *arbǫ̂ |
| dative | *arbai | *arbamaz |
| instrumental | *arbō | *arbamiz |
Descendants
- Old Norse: arfr
References
- ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), “*arba-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11)[1], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 32