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Significat (anglès)

A suffix forming the present participle of German verbs, analogous to English -ing.

Pronunciat com a (IPA)

/ənt/

Etimologia (anglès)

From Middle High German -ende, from Old High German -enti, -anti, from Proto-West Germanic *-andī, from Proto-Germanic *-andz (present participle ending). Cognate with Dutch -end, Old English -ende. See English -and, -ing for more.
The gerundive use of the present participle goes back to the dative form of the Middle High German infinitive, which was sometimes enhanced with -d- through interaction with the present participle: ze lesene → ze lesende (“to read”). Placed before the noun, this construction was then reinterpreted as actually involving a participle, which lead to grammatical agreement: das zu lesende Buch, and thus by analogy ein zu lesendes Buch (“a book to [be] read”). Compare the etymologically correct construction in Dutch het/een te lezen boek.