"-u" meaning in Proto-Germanic

See -u in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Particle

IPA: /u/
Etymology: Possibly from Pre-Germanic *-we, from Proto-Indo-European *-we, which would make it cognate to Latin -ve, Ancient Greek ἤ (ḗ), Tocharian B wa and Sanskrit वा (vā). Alternatively, from *h₂u, whence possibly also Ancient Greek αὖ (aû) and Sanskrit उ (u, “and”). Etymology templates: {{der|gem-pro|ine-pro|*-we}} Proto-Indo-European *-we, {{cog|la|-ve}} Latin -ve, {{cog|grc|ἤ}} Ancient Greek ἤ (ḗ), {{cog|txb|wa}} Tocharian B wa, {{cog|sa|वा}} Sanskrit वा (vā), {{m+|grc|αὖ}} Ancient Greek αὖ (aû), {{m+|sa|उ|t=and}} Sanskrit उ (u, “and”) Head templates: {{tlb|gem-pro|East Germanic}} (East Germanic)
  1. Added to the end of a word in a phrase (usually the first word) to make it a question. Wikipedia link: Lexikon der indogermanischen Partikeln und Pronominalstämme Tags: East, Germanic, reconstruction
{
  "descendants": [
    {
      "depth": 1,
      "templates": [
        {
          "args": {
            "1": "got",
            "2": "-𐌿"
          },
          "expansion": "Gothic: -𐌿 (-u)",
          "name": "desc"
        }
      ],
      "text": "Gothic: -𐌿 (-u)"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "gem-pro",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*-we"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *-we",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "la",
        "2": "-ve"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin -ve",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "grc",
        "2": "ἤ"
      },
      "expansion": "Ancient Greek ἤ (ḗ)",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "txb",
        "2": "wa"
      },
      "expansion": "Tocharian B wa",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sa",
        "2": "वा"
      },
      "expansion": "Sanskrit वा (vā)",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "grc",
        "2": "αὖ"
      },
      "expansion": "Ancient Greek αὖ (aû)",
      "name": "m+"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sa",
        "2": "उ",
        "t": "and"
      },
      "expansion": "Sanskrit उ (u, “and”)",
      "name": "m+"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Possibly from Pre-Germanic *-we, from Proto-Indo-European *-we, which would make it cognate to Latin -ve, Ancient Greek ἤ (ḗ), Tocharian B wa and Sanskrit वा (vā).\nAlternatively, from *h₂u, whence possibly also Ancient Greek αὖ (aû) and Sanskrit उ (u, “and”).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "gem-pro",
        "2": "East Germanic"
      },
      "expansion": "(East Germanic)",
      "name": "tlb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Proto-Germanic",
  "lang_code": "gem-pro",
  "original_title": "Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/-u",
  "pos": "particle",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "East Proto-Germanic",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Proto-Germanic entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Proto-Germanic particles",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Added to the end of a word in a phrase (usually the first word) to make it a question."
      ],
      "id": "en--u-gem-pro-particle-fHskLLQv",
      "tags": [
        "East",
        "Germanic",
        "reconstruction"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Lexikon der indogermanischen Partikeln und Pronominalstämme"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/u/"
    }
  ],
  "word": "-u"
}
{
  "descendants": [
    {
      "depth": 1,
      "templates": [
        {
          "args": {
            "1": "got",
            "2": "-𐌿"
          },
          "expansion": "Gothic: -𐌿 (-u)",
          "name": "desc"
        }
      ],
      "text": "Gothic: -𐌿 (-u)"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "gem-pro",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*-we"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *-we",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "la",
        "2": "-ve"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin -ve",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "grc",
        "2": "ἤ"
      },
      "expansion": "Ancient Greek ἤ (ḗ)",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "txb",
        "2": "wa"
      },
      "expansion": "Tocharian B wa",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sa",
        "2": "वा"
      },
      "expansion": "Sanskrit वा (vā)",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "grc",
        "2": "αὖ"
      },
      "expansion": "Ancient Greek αὖ (aû)",
      "name": "m+"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sa",
        "2": "उ",
        "t": "and"
      },
      "expansion": "Sanskrit उ (u, “and”)",
      "name": "m+"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Possibly from Pre-Germanic *-we, from Proto-Indo-European *-we, which would make it cognate to Latin -ve, Ancient Greek ἤ (ḗ), Tocharian B wa and Sanskrit वा (vā).\nAlternatively, from *h₂u, whence possibly also Ancient Greek αὖ (aû) and Sanskrit उ (u, “and”).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "gem-pro",
        "2": "East Germanic"
      },
      "expansion": "(East Germanic)",
      "name": "tlb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Proto-Germanic",
  "lang_code": "gem-pro",
  "original_title": "Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/-u",
  "pos": "particle",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "East Proto-Germanic",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Proto-Germanic entries with incorrect language header",
        "Proto-Germanic lemmas",
        "Proto-Germanic particles",
        "Proto-Germanic terms derived from Proto-Indo-European"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Added to the end of a word in a phrase (usually the first word) to make it a question."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "East",
        "Germanic",
        "reconstruction"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Lexikon der indogermanischen Partikeln und Pronominalstämme"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/u/"
    }
  ],
  "word": "-u"
}

Download raw JSONL data for -u meaning in Proto-Germanic (1.9kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable Proto-Germanic dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-06-05 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-06-01 using wiktextract (5ee713e and f1c2b61). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.