datt
datt
FromMiddle High Germandat, fromOld High Germanthat, north-western variant ofthaz, fromProto-Germanic*þat. Cognate withCentral Franconiandatt,Germandass,Dutchdat,Englishthat.
The split between Luxembourgishdat(pronoun) anddatt(conjunction) is due to the fact that the latter is virtually never stressed, which prevented the otherwise regular lengthening (note thatdat may also be pronounced with a short vowel in unstressed position). The byformdass does not directly continue Old High Germanthaz, but is actually fromdatt +s(2nd person singular ending), thus from a contractiondatt sde →dass de(“that you”). Comparewann s de(“if you”), etc., and compare for the contractionhas(“you had”) from underlying*haats. The subsequent generalisation ofdass, however, was surely reinforced by the formdass in Standard German and in dialects to the south-east of Luxembourg.
datt
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datt c
| nominative | genitive | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| singular | indefinite | datt | datts |
| definite | datten | dattens | |
| plural | indefinite | — | — |
| definite | — | — |