uton

== Ladin == === Etymology === Borrowed from Latin autumnus (“autumn, fall”), of uncertain etymology. The Latin etymon is directly continued by Romanian toamnă, Aromanian toamnã (unless these reflect the variant in a-), Italian autono (Northern Italy, 15th c.), Romansch utuon (Engadine), Spanish otoño (→ Logudorese Sardinian atónzu, Campidanese atógniu), Portuguese outono, and via Vulgar Latin *atumnus by Friulian atum (“october”), Romansch atun (Sursilvan), aton (Surmiran). Provençal autoun (“autumn harvest”) could be Latin-influenced; French automne is likely, and Catalan autumne certain to be a borrowing from Latin. === Noun === uton m (plural utons) (Fascian) autumn, fall ==== Alternative forms ==== autonn (Gherdëina) altonn (Badiot) ==== See also ==== seasons: sajons: ansciuda~aisciöda~aisciuda · instà~isté~istà · autonn~altonn~uton · inviern~invern [edit] == Old English == === Alternative forms === wutum, wutun, wuton === Etymology === Usually said to originate from a form of witan (“to know”). Ringe explains it as an allegro form of PWGmc 1pl. *(ga)wītum (“we're going, we'll go”) which escaped the North Sea Germanic displacement of 1pl. endings because speakers reinterpreted it as a separate word. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˈu.ton/ === Adverb === uton let's late 9th century, translation of Bede's Ecclesiastical History ==== Usage notes ==== Uton is often described as a defective verb with only a sort of first-person plural imperative inflection remaining. However, there are several striking ways it does not behave like a verb: It rarely pushes the following infinitive to the end of the sentence. Instead the infinitive usually comes directly after, except a weakly stressed word like an adverb or object pronoun often goes sandwiched in between: Uton nū brūcan þisses undernmetes (“Now let's enjoy this breakfast”). Finite verb endings are frequently replaced with -e when they directly precede wē, ġē, wit, or ġit. But though the phrase uton wē occurs, *ute wē does not. Even Ælfric, who uses the reduced endings almost 95% of the time, never writes *ute wē, while uton wē appears in his works ten times. Uton has a fixed place within the sentence, being usually clause-initial and never clause-final. Even imperatives are occasionally final, especially in a conjunct clause, but uton never is. In the phrase "let's not," ne goes directly before the infinitive: Uton ne forlǣtan ġīet þās bōc (“Let's not leave this book yet”). Ne only does this when there is no finite verb to negate; otherwise it always goes before the finite verb, yet there are no instances of *ne uton. === References ===