ABSTRACT
A gradual transition from substantive to adjective is seen in the so-called weak adjectives in Gothonic. As Osthoff has pointed out, these go back to an old substantive-formation parallel to that found in Gr. strabOn 'the squint-eyed man' corresponding to the adj. straboa 'squinting,' or Lat. Gato Gatonis 'the sly one,' cpo adj. catus, Macro cpo adj. macer. In Gothonic this was gradually extended, but at first these forms, like the Greek and Latin words mentioned, were nicknames or distinguishing names, thus individual in their application. As Osthoff says, Latin M. Porcius Gato, Abudius Rufo, transferred into German, meant something like M. Porciu8 der Kluge, Abudius der Rote .. just as in OHG we have amiss expressly to state what will appear from the following disquisitions and exemplifications, that I do not mean to say that the "extension" of any substantive is always and under all circumstances less than that of any adjective: very often a numerical comparison of the instances in which two words are applicable is excluded by the very nature of the case.
