Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/amprō

This Proto-West Germanic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-West Germanic

Etymology

From *ampr (“sour”) +‎ *-ō. Compare *sūrā (“sorrel”), from *sūr (“sour”). Compare also the parallel formations Sanskrit अम्ल (amlá, “sour, bitter; wood sorrel”) and Latvian amuols (“yellow sorrel”), apparently from the same root with a slightly different suffix.

Noun

*amprō m

1. sorrel, dock

   Synonyms: *dokkā, *sūrā

Inflection

Masculine an-stem
	Singular
Nominative	*amprō
Genitive	*amprini, *ampran
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	*amprō	*ampran
Accusative	*ampran	*ampran
Genitive	*amprini, *ampran	*ampranō
Dative	*amprini, *ampran	*amprum
Instrumental	*amprini, *ampran	*amprum

Alternative reconstructions

• *amprā

Descendants

• Old English: ampre f, ompre ( < Proto-West Germanic *amprā)
  • Middle English: ampre
    • English: amper
• Old Saxon: *ampro
  • ⇒ Middle Low German: sûramper m
• Old High German: ampfaro m; amphara f ( < Proto-West Germanic *amprā)
  • Middle High German: ampfer, ampher m
    • German: Ampfer m
      • → German Low German: Amper

Further reading

• Kroonen, Guus (2013) “*ampra/on-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 25
• Friedrich Kluge (1989) “Ampfer”, in Elmar Seebold, editor, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache [Etymological Dictionary of the German Language] (in German), 22nd edition, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 26