User:Burgundaz/Notes on Germanic

Adjectival *-haz and *-gaz
Gothic attests a few Germanic forms of the suffix *-gaz with *-haz:


 * *ainahô (Gothic: ainaha)
 * *barnahaz (Gothic: unbarnahs)
 * *bergahaz (Gothic: bairgahei (literally "mountainousness))
 * *new(j)aklahaz (Gothic: niuklahs)
 * *stainahaz (Gothic: stainahs)
 * *wurdahaz (Gothic: waurdahs)

... this seems to show that at least some forms of pre-Germanic *-kos showed a process of drawing the accent away from the initial syllable to the following:


 * *Hóynos > *Hoynókos
 * (*bʰornós >) *bʰórnom > *bʰornókos
 * *bʰérgʰo- > *bʰergʰókos
 * (*newognós >) *newógno- > *newognókos
 * *stóyh₂nos > *stoyh₂nókos
 * *h₂wŕ̥dʰom > *h₂wr̥dʰókos


 * Notes:
 * Two etymologies are supplied which show their likely original derivation from oxytone adjectives to barytone substantives.
 * Germanic seems to have dissimilated original *-kna- to *-kla-, compare Ancient Greek νεογνός ("newborn")

Present
In present use, the aorists show full-grade in the singular and zero-grade elsewhere, as in 3sg. *kwimidi, 3pl. *kumandi; *knididi, *knudandi; *swifidi, sufandi, *trididi, *trudandi:

Preterite
The early or pre-Germanic root aorist in past use leaves its traces in the preterites of stative-present *kunnaną and *unnaną, and also somewhat differently in the verbs *hlaþaną, *standaną and *waldaną.

In the former, the irregular preterite stems *kunþ- and *unþ- presumably go back to *ǵnéh₃-t > *ǵń̥h₃-t, *h₃én-t > *h₃ń̥-t, where the zero-grade seems to have spread from the non-singular *ǵn̥h₃-ént, *h₃n̥-ént.

In the latter, the preterites *hlōþ, *stōþ and *wulþ (< *kléh₂-t, *stéh₂-t and *h₂wĺ̥h₁-t), seem to have influenced the creation of present forms also containing a dental. Although in the case of *waldaną, it's not improbable that the present was replaced by the compound *h₂wolh₁-dʰh₁- as also found in Balto-Slavic.

Strong 4th and 5th -ē-
The lengthened grade -ē- found in the oblique of class 4 and 5 strong preterites probably spread from the singular indicative where it was originally confined, presumably in a Narten fashion of 3sg. **kwēm, 3pl. **kwemun. This is corroborated by the abnormal "o-grades" found in some deverbal formations where -a- is expected: *nēmą, where **namą (< *nemaną) is expected, *ētą for **atą (< *etaną), in a small class of o-grade deverbal neuter a-stems; numerous causative-iteratives which notoriously take the o-grade, some with traditional o-grade variants: ... and some with no traditional o-grade variant at all:
 * *ētijaną and *atjaną < *etaną
 * *kwēdijaną and *kwadjaną < *kweþaną (unless denominal)
 * *lēgijaną and *lagjaną < *ligjaną
 * *sētijaną and *satjaną < *sitjaną
 * *swēbijaną and *swabjaną < *swefaną
 * *bērijaną (not **barjaną) < *beraną
 * *gētijaną (not **gatjaną) < *getaną
 * *kwēmijaną (not **kwamjaną) < *kwemaną
 * *nēmijaną (not **namjaną) < *nemaną
 * *stēlijaną (not **staljaną) < *stelaną

Eventually the singular -ē- was replaced by the regular o-grade -a- in all verbs except one, *etaną, which somehow preserved the transitional phase as 3sg. *ēt, 3pl. *ētun.

Pre-Germanic formations
A list of formations found in Germanic that point to earlier, presumably more complex, formations.

Verbal

 * Full-grade present: *bʰér- > *beraną
 * O-grade present: *pór- > *faraną
 * Zero-grade present: *sh̥́₂g- > *sakaną
 * Narten formation: *bʰḗr-/*bʰer- > *bēr/*berun > *bēr/*bērun > *bar/*bērun
 * Aorist present: *wéyk-/*wik- > *wīhidi/*wi(g/h)andi
 * Stative present: *wóyd-/*wid- > *witaną

Pre-Germanic prefix stress
Stressed

The second -a- in *ana- likely resulted from a residual laryngeal schwa, requiring stress to survive. This could show that pre-Germanic preverbs/prefixes carried stress. Otherwise, it represents a secondary *an- + *-o as in *aba-, *uba-.
 * *aba- < *h₂epó-
 * *ana- < *h₂enh̥́₂-
 * *fra- < *pró-
 * *idi- < *h₁etí-
 * *midi- < probably *metí-
 * *uba- < *h₁upó-
 * *uber- < *h₁upér-

Unstressed
 * *bi- < *h₁pi-
 * *ga- < *kom-
 * *tiz- < *dis-
 * *tuz- < *dus-
 * *uz- < *us < *ud-s-

Proto-Germanic passive endings
The PIE thematic present middle endings should presumably have given the following in Proto-Germanic, assuming no other changes:

Instead, we see the analogical change of 2sg *-idai/-aid to *-izai/-aizau, replacement of subj 3pl *-ro with *-nto, spread of the marker *-ai from the 2sg/3sg/3pl to all forms in the indicative, thus the corresponding spread of the marker *-au (from whatever source) through the subjunctive. Presumably the unsyncretized Proto-Germanic passive should have been the following:

The 2nd dual forms are harder to predict, as depending on the date of the spread of the markers, we could expect: very early *-idamai/-aidamau, early *-idanai/-aidanau or late *-idai/-aidau. The latter might be preferable, being less marked, contributing in part to the syncretism shown in the Gothic passive.

"Do" and pre-Germanic tense
Presumably the pre-Germanic tense system had developed into the following:

The perfect describing a present state resulting from a past action, while a pluperfect would have described a past state resulting from a further past action.

The exact route this took from pre-Germanic to Germanic is quite complex.

The irregular verb do seems best at preserving morphological traces of this system:

The present stem reflects an athematic o-grade present, for whatever reason replacing the expected reduplicated athematic present.

The expected aorist non-singular stem was probably already regularized to *du- (*dun < *dʰh₁ń̥d). Eventually even this was replaced by the newer stem *dēd- after the reinterpretation of *dēþ as a bare stem. Compare *stōþ > *stōdun, *hlōþ > *hlōdun for similar formations.

Old English dyde seems to reflect a stem *dud-, possibly from a thematic pluperfect with analogical introduction of secondary zero-grade from aorist non-singular *du-, giving 2sg. *dudiz, 3sg. ''*dudi.

That *du- had become a secondary zero-grade stem is perhaps further proved by the secondary zero-grade Old English dyde, "a deed", < *dudiz replacing earlier *daþ/diz. Compare Latin conditiō, Celtic *kondatis, Ancient Greek θέσις. Given this, it is not much of a leap to assume that the inherited to-stem participle had become *dudaz from earlier *dadaz.

Therefore, a possible rendering of the early Germanic active 'do'-paradigm could have appeared as follows:

A little more speculatively, it seems possible that each tense could at one time have been given respective participles:


 * Present: *-andz
 * Imperfect: *-(a)naz (strong past participles)
 * Aorist: *-anþs, oblique *-und- (possibly derived *nēh(w)undijô, "neighbor: who is approached")
 * Perfect: *-wōz, oblique *-uz- (derived *bēruzjaz, "parent: who has borne")
 * Pluperfect: *-daz (preterite-present past participles)

Germanic weak verbs and transitivity
It is possible that Germanic weak verb classes, especially those of the third, fourth and lost stative *-ēną-class, played a larger role in describing verb transitivity to a more extensive extent in earlier Germanic.

Presumably the third class originally supplied a general inchoative aspect, as seen in the difference between *dugaiþi, "to become useful > to help" against *duganą, "to be useful". The role of simple stative present in relation to the inchoative seems to have been supplied by preterite-presents, j-stem verbs and probably also at one time by the *-ēną-class of verbs attested only in the derivatives *armēǭ and *fagēþiz. Competition between the three seems to have resulted in the almost complete disappearance of the latter verb class.

This interpretation of the third class, one of an inchoative linked with a stative companion, would help explain certain confusion between forms in the daughter languages, including verbs that show umlaut/lack of umlaut, gemination/lack of gemination and so on, as eventually the inchoative verbs themselves gradually developed into simple stative verbs in competition with their original companion.

The third class might have also served to derived inceptive verbs from activity verbs:

The fourth class might have served for anticausative aspect, derived from causative/transitive verbs.

Abnormal extension: u/i-stem/infixation
In Germanic there seems to be a class of nouns that declines in the "strong" cases with initial stress, Cv́C-uC-, while receiving oxytone or paroxytone stress in the "weak" cases, CvC-íC-; while additionally being marked by a -u- in the originally unstressed syllable in the former, but with an -i- in the originally stressed syllable in the latter.

The best theory to come to one's mind at the moment that would make sense of all the forms and accentual shifts, would be that this type of inflection/derivation was grammaticalized from earlier collective formations like like CéC-l̥/r̥ or CóC-l̥/r̥ (obl. CC-én-), which would result in Germanic forms like CeC-uR- (obl. CeC/G-iR-, where G is a mutable consonant by Verner's law). This would also help explain its perceived collective capacity in some formations.

This class might also by the basis for the collective suffixes *-idją, *-iþją, from the quite numerous dental oblique stems plus the normal collective *-ją. When the stems are collectivized with *-ją, they seem to prefer the oblique stem, *apilją, *aritją, *alizją


 * Notes:
 * The oblique stem *haubiþ- is irregular to the paradigm, but probably due to a labializing shift, -aPv́- > -auPv́- (where P is a labial consonant).

Animals
 * *albuts (obl. *albit-) - f - "swan"; > OE ielfetu; OHG albiz, elbiz; ON ǫlpt


 * *anudz (obl. *aniþ-) - f - "duck" - (OE ænid/æned, ened; OHG anut, enit; ON ǫnd, pl endr)
 * According to theory 1, this might go back to *h₂enh₂ts, however this consonant cluster doesn't seem especially heavy.


 * *awudą (obl. *awwiþa-) - n - "(sheep) herd" - ( OE eówod; OHG ewit/ouwit) (primary formation)
 * *awidją (obl. *awwiþją) - n/f - "(sheep) herd; sheepfold"; > OE ēow(e)de; OHG ouwiti; GO aweþi - With secondary and redundant collective suffix *-ją


 * *hafukaz/*habukaz (obl. *haubik-) - m - "hawk" (ON haukr; OE hafoc/hafuc/heafoc; OF hauk; OS habuk; OHG habuh/*hebich (> MHG hebech/hebich))
 * For the root-final consonant, cf. Latin capus ("hawk") but also Proto-Slavic *kobьcь ("hawk; merlin").


 * *hakudaz, obl. *hakiþ- - m - "pike (fish)" (OE hacod; OHG hachit but also heched)

Material/Substance
 * *aruts, obl. *arit- - m - "ore" (OD arut; OHG aruz, ariz)
 * Secondary *aritją > OHG aruzi, arizi.


 * *meluks, obl. *milik- - f - "milk" (OE meoloc, meolc; OF melok; OS miluk; OHG miluch, milich; ON mjǫlk; GO miluks)
 * Obviously the root is inherited. The only reason to assume it was re-rendered to this class of declension was due to its collectivity/uncountability.

People/Body part
 * *ankul-/*ankil- also possibly *ank(a)la- - m/f - "ankle" (ON ǫkkla; OHG ankala and enkil'')


 * *erulaz (obl. *irila-) - m - "earls, (high-ranking) men" (Latin Heruli/Eruli; Runic erilaz/irilaz) (cf. also ON jarl; OE eorl; OS erl'')
 * The Germanic reflexes point to *erlaz, while Latin and Runic inscriptions provide the attested forms. It is possible they are technically two different words, but the Runic inscriptions seem to be boasting of titles rather than simply the name of a tribe, to which the Germanic reflexes proper were or came to be used as titles. If they are related, it is further evidence that the u/i-formant could intervene in otherwise fixed morphemes, as happened with *meluks < *melks. This would further imply a non-IE origin for the process.


 * *hafudą, obl. *haubiþ-- n - "head" - (GO 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐌱𐌹𐌸; ON hǫfuð; OE hēafod but also hafudland)
 * Cognate with Latin caput, obl. capit-.


 * *haludaz, obl. *haliþ- - m - "hero, man" - (ON hǫldr; OE hæleþ/heleþ)


 * *Harud(a)z, pl. *Harudiz/*Harudōz, obl. *Hariþ- - m - "warrior, hero" - (ON *Hǫrðr > ON Hǫrðaland)
 * Germanic tribal name, Latin Charudes, pl. consonant stem. Outside Germanic, cognate to Celtic *karuts, "warrior, hero".


 * *swajutaz, obl. *swaita-(< *swajita-) - m - "host, troop" - (ON sveit/sjót (as if *swaitaz/*sweutaz); OE swēot)


 * *werudą or *wirudą, obl. *wiriþa- or *wirida-, "host (of men)" (OE weorod/werod; ON virðar (pl))
 * Possibly attested outside of Germanic in Gallic proper name Viridovix, theonym Viridios. The Celtic forms suggest the dental might have originally been -d- throughout the Germanic word, otherwise we would expect Celtic *Wirit-, unless this could be explained by the developing Celtic lenition of -t- to -d-.
 * Probably derived from the noun *wiraz/*weraz, "man",

Places
 * *harudą (obl. *hariþ-) - "area: woods, forest; district, hundred"(?) (ON herað ("district; country(side)"), OHG heride ("community; district"(?)))
 * The ON form might not belong here, it looks to go back to *harōd- with the vocalism of *hariþ- (which the OHG form represents). Koebler and others reconstruct roots *haraþ/d- and *haruþ-, presumably based on personal name elements;


 * *warudaz, obl. *wariþ- - m - "shore; island" (OE waroþ/weroþ/wereþ; OHG warid/werid)
 * Probably related to OE wær, "sea", ON vari, "water".

Plants
 * *adukaz, obl. *adik- - m - "(variously) elder; coriander; danewort" (OS aduk; OHG atuh, attiho, *atih > (MG Attich (archaic?)))
 * Compare Gallic *odokos, Latin ebulum (< ''*h₁edʰlom).


 * *ahulaz, obl. *agila- - m - "awn" (OE egl; OHG ahil)


 * *ahunō, obl. *aginō- - f - "chaff" (OE eġenu; OS agana; OHG agana; ON ǫgn; GO ahana)
 * Technically only the ON and OE terms show forms going back to this paradigm, therefore like *apalaz below, there was probably a competing form *ah/ganō. Possibly a singulative/collective differentiation?


 * *ahuraz, obl. *agira- (or *agiza-) - m - "maple" (DA ær; ModHG (dialectal) Acher)


 * *aluzaz, obl. *alisa- - m - "alder" (OE alor, aler; OHG erila, elira; ON ǫlr, alr)
 * Secondary *alizją > Old Norse elri.


 * *apulaz, obl. *apil- - m - "apple"; > OE æpl, appel; OS appul; OHG apful, apfel
 * Secondary *apilją > Old Norse epli
 * This formation existed in parallel to a normal a-stem *apalaz, where this noun possibly had more collective force. The derived tree name could have been either originally *apuldraz or *apaldraz, ON apaldr against OE apuldre, OHG apfultra (< *apuldrǭ), where either stem could have been leveled out.

Tools/Structures
 * *akuzī, obl. *akwisjō- - f - "axe"; > OE æx; OF axe; OS akus; OHG ackus; ON øx; Gothic aqisi


 * *angulaz, obl. *angil- (possibly also *ang(a)la-) - m - "(fish)hook, angle"
 * Probably the same complex as the demonym *Anglijōz/*Anglīz/*Angilōz; a view supported by the medieval Norwegian toponym Ǫngull. The Jutland peninsula vaguely resembles a fishhook in shape, with the Angles purportedly living in the area of the "hook"-part.


 * *faludaz, obl. *falid- - m - "pen, enclosure"; > DA fold; OE fald/falod; OS faled.


 * *rakudaz, obl. *rakid-? - m - "building; house"; > OE ræċed/reċed; OS rakud/rakod
 * Probably derived from *rakaz ("straight") or *rakjaną ("to stretch, straighten"). If from the latter, it could have entered this class of declension by way of an original form *rakidaz, "what is straightened, arranged". There is no evidence to assume the oblique dental would have been -þ-.

Weak class 3
The Germanic class 3 weak verbs are a merging of at least two pre-Germanic verbal paradigms, a denominal formation and a middle-esque formation.

The first is an unproblematic formation of factitive/causative verbs cognate with Ancient Greek -όω, an innovated denominal formation which kept the nominal thematic *-o- vowel instead of replacing it with *-e-, as is represented by the first weak class. So an adjective like *bataz > *bʰodós would be derived as *bʰodóyeti, as opposed to to *hailijaną, "to make whole" from *hailaz, "whole", < *koyl-e-yeti < *koylos. From this formation, past participles ended in *-adaz.

The second is, according to Jasanoff, a middle formation that's reflected in Sanskrit duhe, a competing form to dugdhe, which represents PIE *dʰugʰ-ói, "... is useful" > with peculiar Indic semantics "providing milk". To verbs of this formation a suffix *-yéti was added, giving pre-Germanic *-o(i)yéti. In Proto-Germanic the forms *-oyé- and *-oyó- developed into *-ai- and *-ā-, respectively. From this formation, past participles ended in *-aidaz.

This type of deponent middle formation probably indicated stative, inchoative and reflexive semantics: stative *wakāną, "to be vigilant" > "to be awake"; inchocative *kaldāną, "to become cold"; reflexive *armāną, "to become as (treat oneself as) poor" > "to show mercy".

Verbs that have confused the reconstruction of this class, namely *habāną, *sagāną, *libāną, are to be understood as derived and secondary:


 * *habāną, "to be holding; to have" could be derived from either the strong verb *hafjaną, "to heave, lift", or more likely the weak class 1 zero-grade present *habjaną, "to hold". This whole family of words developed as "to take" > (1: *hafjaną) "to take up/away" > "to carry (away) > "to lift"; (2: *habjaną) "to take up" > "to hold" (3: *habāną) "to be holding" > "to have". While the weak class 1 is sparsely attested, it does leave behind derivations that attest its existence, *habidaz (OE gehefed), *habiþlą (OE hefeld, "thread for weaving", literally "that which holds")


 * *sagāną, "to be speaking", is derived from weak class 1 *sagjaną, "to say". The latter is possibly the long lost causative to *sehwaną, "to follow (with the eyes) > to see", which originally meant "to cause to follow (in speech)" > "to narrate, recount" > "to say, verbalize".


 * *libāną, "to be remaining; to live", is probably derived from the zero-grade present *libjaną, "to remain" > "to survive, live, exist". The two were semantically very close, and were very likely conflated or confused.

Subsequently the stem *-ai- > *-ē- was leveled through the paradigm in Old High German, probably because the stem alternant *-ā-, unstressed *-a-, was indistinct with respect to other verb classes.

While the third weak class survives in Old Norse, it is far less used than the other two surviving weak classes, 1 and 2. This is very likely because the development of the North Germanic mediopassive formation in -sk took on much of its semantic responsibility.

In the other West Germanic languages, the 3rd weak class was merged with weak class 2 verbs, possibly because that class was a very productive destination for verbs from other classes, or perhaps the class had been reconstituted as *-ā-j-aną, just as weak class 2 was as *-ō-j-aną, with the result ending up being indistinguishable due to phonological developments.

Prefixes/Preverbs
In Proto-Germanic, when adverbs and prepositions were attached to nominals and adjectives, they would expect to bear stress, and therefore show a non-Verner voicing; on the other hand, when they were attached to verbs, they bore no stress. In the North-West Germanic languages, almost all prefixes/preverbs show overwhelming Verner's voicing, with only a few forms without, showing that this branch had largely leveled out the stressed/non-Verner alternants. In East Germanic, this had gone the other way, with the stressed/nominal alternate forms leveling out the unstressed/verbal forms, except for ga-, bi-, and possibly uz-, which secondary became unstressed, but does show assimilation to following -rs, cf urrinnan.

Below is a list of most, if not all prefixes/preverbs in the Germanic lexicon, showing both the voicing forms, with non-Verner's on the left, and Verner's on the right. Forms that show no difference either way are listed singly.

Some forms show not just a voiced alternant, but possibly also an ablaut variant.


 * *afa-/*aba-
 * *ana-
 * *anþi-/*andi-
 * ON enn reflects *anþi
 * *at-
 * **fi-/*bi-
 * An unvoiced variant is attested nowhere, there is however an ablaut variant in *ib(i)-, Gothic ibdaljin, "upon(?) the valley > hillside".
 * *fra-/*bra-
 * *furai-/**burai-
 * A voiced variant is nowhere attested or discernible.
 * *furi-/**buri-
 * A voiced variant is nowhere attested or discernible.
 * *ham-/*ga-''
 * *ga- overwhelmingly won out in all Germanic languages, showing the process for this form started already in Proto-Germanic. The non-Verner variant *ham- is attested however in Frankish forms *hamallus/*chamallus, "one who shares the same forum", from earlier *ha(m)-maþlaz, cf OHG *gimahalo, "consort", as well as *hamedii/*hamedius, "co-oathtaker", from earlier *ham-aiþijaz, cf OHG gieido, "conjurator".
 * *iþi-/*idi-
 * *miþi-/*midi-, "with, amongst", cogante with Ancient Greek μετά
 * *niþra-/**nidra-
 * A voiced variant is nowhere attested or discernible.
 * *tiz-, "apart", cognate with Ancient Greek διά (with secondary -α), Latin dis-
 * *tō-
 * Possibly in some alternation with ablaut variant *ta.
 * *tuz-, "bad, mis-", cognate with Ancient Greek δυσ-
 * *þerhw-/*þuru-
 * A voiced variant **deru is nowhere attested, but this role might have been played by the ablaut variant *þuru(h).
 * *ufa-/*uba-
 * *ufer-/*uber-
 * *under-, (under)
 * **unþer-/*under-, (between)
 * *wiþra-/**widra-
 * A voiced variant is nowhere attested or discernible.

Deverbal adjectives
Strong verbs derive primary verbal adjectives in at least three ways:
 * "gerundive": o-grade or secondary o-grade, mostly zero-grade in the 3rd class of strong verbs, with Verner's voicing, therefore originally oxytonic, with i-stem suffix
 * ra-stem: zero-grade, sometimes o-grade, in the root, Verner's voicing/oxytonic, with the ra-stem suffix
 * ula-stem: normally zero-grade with Verner's voicing/oxytonic, with an -ula-stem suffix.

The semantics of these suffixes and formations can at least be split into two:

Patientive/Passive
Characterized entirely by the "gerundive"-type of adjective. Rather than term it "gerundive" however, a word which is characterized by more meanings than the one that characterizes this class, it would be more preferable to term this either "passive derverbal" or "patientive deverbal", since semantically it seems to be somewhat more patientive or passive, indicating what a verb can or could do, often to the subject. Resembles Latin deverbal adjectives in -bilis
 * *bēriz < *beraną, "able or worthy of bearing", cf Old Norse bærr, "entitled to < worth of being able to bear or carry"
 * *frēgiz, *frehnaną, "renowned, famous" < "worthy of being asked (about)"
 * *lēgiz < *ligjaną, "able or worth to lie, be lain", Old English lǣġe, "fallow, unploughed (of land)", Old Norse lægr, "right to be buried (ie. lain to rest)"
 * *lēziz < *lesaną, "empty", originally "able or worthy to be gathered"
 * *mētiz < *metaną, "able or worthy to be measured", > Old Norse mætr, "valuable, costly", Old English, "mean, inferior", ie. "not worthy of measure"
 * *þēgiz < *þigjaną, "agreeable < able or worthy to be accepted"

Agentive/Active
Semantically this type of formation seems to imply simple activity, or "doing ... (verb)", similar to Latin deverbal adjectives in -īvus

With the suffix *-ra-: To this we add forms with the suffix *-ula-:
 * *bitraz, "biting" < *bitaną, "to bite"
 * *klibraz, "sticking, adhering" < *klībaną, "to stick to"
 * *legraz, "lying, *ligjaną, "to lie"
 * *stulraz "sneaking" < *stelaną, "to sneak"
 * *wakraz, "(being) awake" > "watching" < *wakaną,
 * *brukulaz, "breaking", *brekaną
 * *farulaz, "traveling", < *faraną, "to travel"
 * *gebulaz, "giving", *gebaną, "to give"
 * *þagulaz, "silent, taciturn" < unattested *þahaną, "to be silent" (replaced entirely by it's derived stative *þagāną)

*ǵenh₁- against *ǵneh₃-
In Latin, where both PIE *ǵn̥h₁-tós, *ǵn̥h₃-tós are expected to have given homophonous gnātus and *gnātus, Latin (and probably Italic) instead dissimilated the terms to gnātus and gnōtus, introducing the full-grade secondarily to the latter form. As these roots and their derived forms are very basic and common, it seems very likely that speakers would attempt to dissimilate them where possible.

In Germanic, we see that speakers did the very same thing, but in a different fashion. Rather than introduce a full-grade to a root with expected zero-grade, which goes against the regularity of Germanic ablaut formations, especially with regards to verbs, Germanic speakers instead opted for contrast in accent, which secondarily gave contrast in voicing. Therefore, where *ǵn̥h₁-tós and *ǵn̥h₃-tós are expected to have given homophonous *kundaz and *kundaz (from earlier *kuntós and *kuntós), Germanic speakers instead opted for contrasting accent (*kuntós, *kúntos) between the two, which with Verner's alternation gave way to voicing contrast, *kundaz, "born", against *kunþaz, "known". This voicing also shows itself spreading to related formations, *kindiz/*kundiz, "kind", and *kinþiz/*kunþiz, "knowing", and probably most noticeably to the preterite stem of *kunnaną: *kunþē, *kunþēdun, although this isn't too surprising, as the preterite root is based on the participle stem.

Secondary e-grade nominals
Several Germanic words reflect an e-grade root, with or without oxytonic accent, with which several extra-Germanic cognates can provide evidence for original o-grade. Additionally are added forms that show secondary e-grade within Germanic itself, although these vary in certainty.

With extra-Germanic cognates

 * *blindaz ("blind, dark") < *blandaz < *bʰlondós > Lithuanian blandús, "gloomy"
 * *brinkaz ("edge, rim") < *brankaz < *bʰronkos > Tocharian B prenke
 * *deuzaz ("animal") < *dauzaz < *dʰowsós > Proto-Balto-Slavic *daušas, "breath, air; spirit"
 * In view of Balto-Slavic *daušas, the semantics of the Germanic noun developed from "breathing > living (creature)" or "being animated, sprited"; either way, semantically perfectly parallel to Latin animal derived from anima, "breath, air; spirit".
 * *geraz ("eager, yearning, zealous") < *garaz < *gʰorós > Proto-Celtic *goros, "pious, zealous"; Sanskrit hāra'', "bearing away, carrying away" (< "coveting" or "eager for")
 * Also Avestan zara, "striving, purpose" < "yearning for".
 * The root might also possibly be attested in the o-grade in the names of Mythological figures, *Garmaz (< *gʰormos, "yearning, being eager for") which would be a fitting name for the "perfect" hound; *Gar(i)dī, "desire", specifically the "desire" Freyr felt for her.
 * *hreubaz < *hraubaz - adj - "rough, scabby"
 * *hringaz < *hrangaz - m - "ring, circle"
 * *lertaz ("bent") < *lartaz < *lordós > Ancient Greek lordós, "bent backwards"
 * *leutaz - adj - ("foolish; false") < *lautaz = Proto-Slavic *ludъ < *lowdos
 * *skerzaz - adj - ("skittish") < *skarzaz < *(s)korsós > Ancient Greek epíkouros, "runner, helper"
 * Clearly secondary but uncertain for original o-grade or zero-grade, compare also: Latin currere < *(s)kr̥s-e-.
 * *swefnaz - m - ("sleep, dream") < *swafnaz < ''*swopnos
 * *þeudō - f - ("tribe, people") < *þaudō < *tewtéh₂ > Proto-Balto-Slavic *tautaʔ (but maybe *tjautaʔ); Proto-Italic *toutā (and/or *teutā)
 * Probably the least secure: there are just as many, maybe more, forms attested with e-grade as o-grade. It appears there was confusion everywhere.
 * *þeuhaz - m - ("thight") < *þauhaz < *tówHkos < *towHkós > Proto-Balto-Slavic *tauʔkás
 * *tówHkos was very likely derived from *towHkós, "fat", with contrastive stress.
 * *þeuraz < *þauraz - m - "aurochs" < *táwros > Ancient Greek taûros; Latin taûros; Proto-Balto-Slavic *taurás
 * *welhaz ("wet") < *walhaz < *wólkos > Proto-Celtic *wolkos

With intra-Germanic evidence

 * *hwerbaz ("turning, changing") < *hwarbaz < *kʷorp-ós
 * Denominative *hwarbōną, "to be changing, to change > to wander about".
 * *þeubaz ("thief < slinking")
 * *þingą < *þangą - n - "meeting; case; thing"
 * Possibly derived *þangilaz, "prince, leader", and *þangijaną (unless causative), "to perform, accomplish", preserves the original o-grade, otherwise a verbally derived agent formation in *-ilaz is expected in the zero-grade. As well, the oxytonesis implies an o-stem agentive/action formation, i.e. τόμος/τομός formations.
 * Additionally, especially for Germanic poetry if indeed archaic, and with the knowledge above that *hringaz was originally *hrangaz, the Beowulf phrase Hringa þengel, "prince of rings", makes more sense as an earlier poetical phrase with rhyming initial syllables *hrangą þangilaz (*hrangǫ̂ þangilaz on Wiktionary).
 * *werdaz ("turning") < *wardaz < *wort-ós
 * Continued fossilized as an adverb/preposition in OE weard.

Zero-grade non-singular presents with singular ja-stem
Within Germanic there are a small subset of verbs that feature full grade only in the singular present, with zero-grade in the non-singular present:

While there is no certainty on how other roots came to belong to this group, some verbs like *knudaną and *trudaną above came from aorist-presents; that is, aorists being re-classed as the present form of a verb, rather than taking the usual root towards becoming preterite.

There seems to be another subset of verbs that act in the same manner, albeit with a singular stem extended with *-j- earlier *-y- or *-i- (keep in mind -ji- resolves to -i-):

This would explain why the latter two show up as if from *leganą and *setaną in Gothic, while also explaining the widespread confusion between *haf- and *hab- in the daughter languages. Again, how they came to be conjugated as such is uncertain to one at the moment; at least the root *sed- formed a root aorist, from which it might have carried on, but the other two don't seem to have had such formations. Perhaps *leg- acquired it by semantic association with *set-.