This is aimed at lx in particular, but anyone is free to try and help me out.
Working on what I prefer to call "illustratives" (pronouns, demonstratives, determiners, definite article, etc.) I have run into a word that I cannot reliably connect to any related forms in any other Germanic language. Maybe it's out there and I just don't have the material, but I'm stumped at the moment.
The word is used together with the proximal/distal illustratives and the correct personal/demonstrative/definite illustrative to form constructs with the basic meaning of "such as this, this kind of".
The word is [tɒɽ], which could be spelled {þol} or {þorð}, but I'm absolutely unaware of any etymological possibilities. The meaning of the word could be something along the lines of "like, such, the, that".
þol han hjenn m. prox. [tɒɽ hɑn j̊ɛnː] reduced [tɒɽɑnjɛ(nː)~-ɛ̃] — ? he here
þol han þenn m. dist. [tɒɽ hɑn tɛnː] reduced [tɒɽɑndɛ(nː)~-ɛ̃] — ? he there
þol hon hjenn f. prox. [tɒɽ hon j̊ɛnː] reduced [tɒɽonjɛ(nː)~-ɛ̃] — ? she here
þol hon þenn f. dist. [tɒɽ hon tɛnː] reduced [tɒlondɛ(nː)~-ɛ̃] — ? she there
þol hit hjenn n. prox. [tɒɽ hit j̊ɛnː] reduced [tɒɽijɛ(nː)~-ɛ̃] — ? it here
þol hit þenn n. dist. [tɒɽ hit tɛnː] reduced [tɒɽidɛ(nː)~-ɛ̃] — ? it there
Examples:
in þol han hjenn boga — a bow of this kind, a bow like this
in þol hon hjenn bók — a book of this kind, a book like this
in þol hit hjenn hús — a house of this kind, a house like this
As for etymological and/or related forms, it could be related to the 3rd person plural pronouns, þeir þær þau, but the [-ɽ-] is refusing to let itself be desciphered. Historically it could stem from [l] or [rð], so either it's a unitary -l- from somewhere, or perhaps a final -r followed by a morpheme beginning with d-. I don't know why Old West Norse has -æ- in some places instead of -á- (seems as if PG. *z sometimes triggered i-mutation), but PG. *sa ("that") has the plural forms *þai *þōz *þō.
The masculine *þai certainly developed into ON. þeir, *þōz could have developed into þær (PG. ō → PN. ā, and allowing i-mutation from z). The neuter form is somewhat strange, but could possibly come from *þai-ō (innovated from masculine form with neuter plural suffix).
What is interesting is the PG. *þō- stem, which would have become PN. *þā- and then later þá or þó, with a shortening of the vowel which appears to be quite prevalent in my dialect.
However, I lack any credible evidence, and I still don't know where the -ɽ- is from!?
