cwacian

Forms

cwacian (weak class 2; third-person singular present cwacaþ, past singular cwacode, past plural cwacodon)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *kwakōną, a verb that Köbler lists in his Germanic dictionary with only the Old English word to show for it, and whose further origin he calls unknown.^[1][2][3] Wiktionary takes the verb to be probably imitative.^[1] Etymonline finds no certain cognate outside English, and suggests an imitative origin only with a "perhaps".^[4]

Holthausen and Köbler connect it within Old English with cweċċan (“to shake, swing”), a causative verb of the same shape.^[5][2] Holthausen also compares the German dialect verb quackeln.^[5]

The Mercian form of the Vespasian Psalter gloss is cwæcian, with ⟨æ⟩ for the ⟨a⟩ of West Saxon: in that dialect /ɑ/ was fronted to /æ/ before a velar consonant even where West Saxon kept it back.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest dated record is in the Old English gloss of the Vespasian Psalter, added in the mid-ninth century, which has the Mercian past tense cwaecade in Psalm 96: from onsiene dryhten cwaecade all eorðe “before the face of the Lord all the earth quaked”.^[8][9] The Junius Psalter gloss of the early tenth century has the West Saxon spelling in Psalm 17: & onstyred is & cwacode eorðe “and the earth was moved and quaked”, over the Latin “contremuit”.^[10][9]

Semantic evolution

In the Orosius the earth quakes and bursts over the whole Roman empire for a year (seo eorþe wæs cwaciende & berstende).^[11][9] The verb is used of the earth and of a sword's edge, and of people who shake with fear, cold or fever; Ælfric says that in the intense cold of hell the teeth chatter (ða teþ cwaciaþ).^[11] In the glosses it renders Latin “tremere” and “contremere”, and in the Lindisfarne gloss it stands for “febricitare”, to be in a fever.^[2][12] Bald's Leechbook uses it of a sinew that twitches and quakes.^[12] The poets use it too: in the Christ the bold man quakes (cene cwacaþ).^[11]

The word lived on as Middle English quaken, now English quake;^[13][4] Middle English also formed strong past tenses such as quok on the model of verbs like shaken.^[13][4]

Timeline

• s. ix med. – cwaecade all eorðe “all the earth quaked” in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[8][9]
• s. x¹ – cwacode eorðe in the Junius Psalter gloss, and the quaking earth in the Old English Orosius.^[10][14][9]
• s. x med. – a sinew that clæppette and cwacige “throbs and quakes” in Bald's Leechbook.^[15][12]
• s. x² – cene cwacaþ “the bold man quakes” in the Christ of the Exeter Book.^[16][11]
• s. x³/⁴ – cuacende for Latin “febricitantem” in the Lindisfarne gloss of Matthew.^[17][12]
• s. x ex. – teeth that chatter in the cold in Ælfric's Catholic Homilies I.^[18][11]

Meanings

Verb

1. to quake, tremble, shake (of the earth, of a weapon).^[11][19]
2. to tremble with fear, cold or fever.^[11][2]
3. to chatter (of teeth).^[19][11]

Word family

• ācwacian
• uncwaciende

Descendants

• Middle English quaken (→ English quake; Scots quak)^[1]

Related words

• cweċċan

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. cwacian
3. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 64
6. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 219
7. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 5.89
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. 329
9. ^ 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
10. ^ 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. 515
11. ^ a b c d e f g h Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 176
12. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 137
13. ^ a b 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)
14. ^ 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
15. ^ 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. 412
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. 291
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. 407
19. ^ a b Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 77