beginnan

Forms

beġinnan (strong class 3; third-person singular present beġinþ, past singular begann, past plural begunnon)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *biginnan (“to start, begin”), from Proto-Germanic *bi- and *ginnaną (“to begin”), a verb not recorded without a prefix.^[1] The same compound is Old Frisian biginna, Old Saxon biginnan, Old Dutch biginnan and Old High German biginnan;^[2][3][4] The Gothic verb, 𐌳𐌿𐌲𐌹𐌽𐌽𐌰𐌽 (duginnan), has another prefix.^[2]

The origin of the simplex is unclear.^[1] Wiktionary reports that LIV traces it to Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- (“to take”), while Kroonen and Scheungraber derive it from *ken- (“to arise, begin”), with voicing after the prefix by Verner's law, which would make it cognate with Proto-Slavic *načęti (“to begin”) and Proto-Celtic *kentus (“first”).^[1] Orel compares verbs for striking and driving in Sanskrit, Greek and Slavic.^[2] Köbler cites Seebold's root “to make gape, split”, and Etymonline, comparing Old High German inginnan (“to cut open”), suggests a development from “open” to “begin”.^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is the Old English Orosius in the Tollemache manuscript, of the first half of the tenth century: Ealle stærwriteras secgað þæt Asiria rice æt Ninuse begunne, & Romana rice æt Procose begunne “All the historians say that the Assyrian kingdom began with Ninus, and the Roman kingdom with Procas”.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

The verb is used transitively, with an object, with an infinitive or with tō and the inflected infinitive, and also without an object.^[4] It also means to attempt or undertake something, and in one manuscript of the Orosius it is used for attacking a city.^[4][3] It renders Latin “incipere”.^[3] Etymonline calls it rare beside the usual onġinnan, but it is frequent in Ælfric: Ða began he to modigenne “then he began to grow proud”, of Lucifer.^[8][7][5]

It became Middle English beginnen, now English begin.^[1][5]

Timeline

• s. x¹ – begunne “began” in the Old English Orosius.^[6][7]
• s. x ex. – Ða began he to modigenne in Ælfric's Catholic Homilies I.^[8][7]
• s. xi in. – in Ælfric's Lives of Saints.^[9][7]
• s. xi med. – in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle D.^[10][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. to begin, start (something, or to do something); to begin, come into being.^[11][4][12]
2. to attempt, undertake.^[4][3]
3. to attack.^[4][3]

Word family

• unbegunnen
• underbeġinnan

Descendants

• Middle English beginnen (→ English begin; Scots begin)^[1]

Related words

• onġinnan

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 132
3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. beginnan
4. ^ a b c d e f Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 72
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 249
7. ^ a b c d e f Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
8. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 407
9. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 282
10. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 318
11. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 79
12. ^ Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 41