s - Wyższa Szkoła Filologiczna we Wrocławiu

On the fate of the s-stems in West Germanic 13
Eventually, the significance of -ir- as a plural marker increased and it became
one of the most expansive plurality exponents, spreading to forms in which it
would not be expected (cf. Modern German Kinder, Männer, Wälder, Leiber,
etc.). Significantly, the -ir- formative has been viewed as the first plural marker
in the German inflectional system to have been independent of case marking
(Wurzel 1989: 448).
Such a morphological reanalysis was facilitated (or even prompted) by the
fact that no distinction existed between the singular and the plural in the paradigm
of the corresponding strong neuter nouns, and it was the new morpheme -irthat
was able to provide such a means of distinction. This had been made explicit
by Herman Hirt (1932: 58), who stated: “Da aber die gewöhnlichen Neutra
im Sing. und Plur. gleich waren, ahd. daʒ wort : diu wort, so empfand man
das überschießende ir als Pluralzeichen, das sich im Laufe der Zeit sehr ausgedehnt
hat und bei uns heute herrscht” [As the singular and plural were identical
in the typical neuters, OHG daʒ wort : diu wort, one came to perceive the
excessive ir as a plural marker which has expanded over time and prevails still
today] (cf. Prokosch 1939: 238). Although the large-scale expansion of this
plural marker occurred mostly in the later stage of the development of German
(especially in Early Modern German), traces of the spread of the -ir- morpheme
as a plural marker can be found relatively early, i.e., partially in the Old High
German period. Accordingly, a number of non-historical s-stems can be found
with the newly adopted inflectional endings. These include: abgot ‘idol’, bant
‘band, bridle’, bret ‘board’, feld ‘field’, grab ‘grave’, hār ‘hair’, hol ‘cave’, holz
‘wood’, hūs ‘house’, krūt ‘cabbage’, loh ‘grove, wood’, loub ‘leaf’, rad ‘wheel’.
In the later textual material, the -ir- extension appears sporadically also in: kar
‘container’, lid ‘joint, link’, tal ‘valley’, tior ‘animal’, smalenōz ‘sheep’, swīn
‘swine’, wēlf ‘cub, whelp’. Single forms are attested in the neuter wa-stems, as
in: hlēo ‘mound’ (classified as masculine, but originated as neuter) (nom. pl.
lēwir, dat. pl. lērium), (h)rēo ‘corpse’ (acc./nom. pl. rēwir), spriu ‘chaff’
(nom./acc. pl. spriuuir, spriuwir) and in the a-stems tiufal (diufal) ‘devil’ (pl.
diufilir), wiht ‘dwarf’ (pl. wihtir) (see Braune 2004 /1875/: 188). In all these
substantives, some synchronic alternation between the ir-less and ir-full plural
forms can be expected.
Interestingly, the suffixal form -ir- was also sporadically attested in some
geographical names containing kalb, blat, huon and tag, where they appear as
the first element of compounds, e.g., Kelbirsbach, Pletirspahc, Huonirislo, Tagarhilt.
It is assumed that these forms may have spread from the nominative/accusative
pl. or dative sg. (cf. Boutkan 1995: 268 and Baesecke 1918:
156).
of unmarked formations. For more details on the mechanism of this development, see also
Kastovsky (1995).