bugan

Forms

būgan (strong class 2; third-person singular present bȳġþ, past singular bēag, past plural bugon)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *beugan, from Proto-Germanic *beuganą (“to bend, bow”).^[1][2] The verb is found in Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐌿𐌲𐌰𐌽 (biugan), Old Saxon būgan and Old High German biogan, and the past plural Old Norse bugu and participle boginn are recorded.^[2][3][4] Outside Germanic it is compared with Sanskrit भुजति (bhujáti, “bends”), from the root Proto-Indo-European *bʰewgʰ- (“to bend”).^[1][2][5]

Old English has ⟨ū⟩ in the present where Gothic and Old High German have the diphthong /eu/;^[4] Ringe and Taylor note that northern West Germanic consistently shows /ū/ in this verb.^[4] Hogg and Fulk class it with the “aorist presents” of the second strong class, which have ū in the present and otherwise the forms of verbs with ēo: past singular bēag, past plural bugon, participle bogen.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Parker manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, begun at the turn of the ninth and tenth centuries, has the past beag in the annal for 913: him beag god dæl þæs folces to “a good part of the people submitted to him”.^[7][8] Its annal for 894 has bugeað, but there it is a form of the verb for dwelling, būan: þa þe in Norþhymbrum bugeað “those who live in Northumbria”.^[8][9]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is bodily, to bow down or bend; the senses of swerving, giving way and turning grew out of it.^[10] Thus Orosius has a river norþ būgende “bending north”, and the Chronicle for 999 has hī bugon and flugon “they gave way and fled”.^[10][11] It is used of going somewhere, of withdrawing into a monastery and, in the laws of Æthelberht, of a wife who leaves the household.^[11][12] With tō it means to submit to a lord or to go over to a faith;^[13][10] būgan tō hǣþenscipe is “to become a heathen”, and the participle gebogen means “converted”.^[13][10] In Beowulf it means to sink or fall, to bow down, to sit down on the benches and to flee.^[14]

The verb lived on as Middle English bouen, now English bow; the Middle English Dictionary notes the influence of the noun boga.^[15]

Timeline

• s. ix/x – him beag god dæl þæs folces to “a good part of the people submitted to him” in the annal for 913 in the Parker Chronicle.^[7][8]
• s. x² – heofonsteorran bugað bradne hwearft “the stars of heaven bend round the broad circuit” in Azarias, in the Exeter Book.^[16][8]
• s. x ex. – þa ðe bugað to rihtum geleafan “those who turn to the right faith” in Ælfric's Catholic Homilies I.^[17][8]
• s. x/xi – bugon “sat down” and “fled” in the Beowulf manuscript.^[18][14]

Meanings

Verb

1. to bow, bow down, bend the body; to sink or fall.^[10][14]
2. to bend, swerve; to turn aside.^[10][13]
3. to give way, yield; to flee.^[11]
4. to turn, go; to withdraw, retire.^[11]
5. to submit, go over to; to turn to a faith.^[10][13]

Word family

• ābūgan
• bebūgan
• forbūgan
• ġebūgan
• oferbūgan
• onbūgan
• underbūgan
• bīeġan

Descendants

• Middle English bowen (→ English bow; Middle Scots bow)^[1]

Related words

• bēag
• bōg
• boga
• byġe
• byht

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 43
3. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 38
4. ^ a b c Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 40
5. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. būgan
6. ^ Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 6.48
7. ^ 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. 83
8. ^ a b c d e Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
9. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 132
10. ^ a b c d e f g Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 133
11. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 110
12. ^ Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 28
13. ^ a b c d Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 52
14. ^ a b c Fulk, R. D.; Bjork, Robert E.; Niles, John D., eds. (2008), Klaeber's Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg, 4th ed., Toronto: University of Toronto Press (glossary), p. s.v. būgan
15. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
16. ^ 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. 223
17. ^ 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
18. ^ 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. 344