Early epigraphic evidence for Germanic weak class-III verbs

Abstract

The names Lubainis and Vanaenia recorded in inscriptions from Namur have long been proposed to preserve evidence that supports the reconstruction of the stem of the Germanic weak class-III verbs as originally featuring a diphthong *-ai-. Cognates of the Gothic weak class-III verb weihan ›to consecrate‹ have similarly been widely held to be preserved in two inscriptions rescued over a century ago from the Danish votive bogs. The attested forms wiju and wija suggest the development of a first-person singular present indicative ending -jǣ, much as would be expected of a weak class-III verb in Northwest Germanic. Gothic weihan ›to consecrate‹ is a factitive, however, and wiju and wija appear to have developed in a manner contrary to that assumed in recent accounts of the morphological origin of the weak class-III verbs.