cwic

Forms

cwic^[1]

• Also cwicu, cwucu and cucu for all genders; both cwic- and cuc- spread through the inflected forms.^[2]
• Only cwic- seems to occur in Anglian texts.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *kwiku, from Proto-Germanic *kwikwaz (“alive”).^[1][3] The adjective is found in Old Norse kvikr, Old Frisian quik, Old Saxon quik and Old High German quec.^[4][3] In Proto-West Germanic the final *-w that was left after the loss of the ending became *-u, which gives the Old English forms in -u.^[3]

The word goes back to Proto-Indo-European *gʷih₃wós (“alive”), the Indo-European word for “alive”, but the Germanic *-kw- in the middle needs explaining.^[1] Orel calls it a secondary phonetic or taboo development of the expected *kwiwaz.^[4] Wiktionary sets out the other explanations: a sound law known as Cowgill's law, Kroonen's reduplicated form, Steer's assimilation to the first consonant, and Kölligan's derivation from a different root.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record is the Vespasian Psalter gloss of the mid-ninth century, at Psalm 123:3: woeninga cwice forswelgað usic renders “forsitan vivos degluttissent nos”, “perhaps they would have swallowed us alive”.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

The word means alive, living, as against dead: Enoch cwic gewāt “Enoch departed alive” in Genesis, and the formula cwicne oþþe dēadne “alive or dead”.^[7][1] In the laws cwic cēap and cwic feoh are live cattle.^[7][8] Bede's translation calls a young man cwices mōdes “of a lively mind”, for “animi vivacis”, and the psalms speak of cwicu wæteres wellan “living springs of water”.^[7][9] The compound cwicseolfor “quicksilver” is in Bald's Leechbook.^[6]

It lived on as Middle English quik; the senses “lively, swift, hasty” of English quick developed in Middle English, around 1300.^[10]

Timeline

• s. ix med. – cwice forswelgað usic “would have swallowed us alive” in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[5][6]
• s. x¹ or x²/⁴ – hu an nunne wearþ cuca bebyrged “how a nun was buried alive” in the Old English Orosius.^[11][6]
• s. x med. – cwic seolfor “quicksilver” in Bald's Leechbook.^[12][6]
• s. x² – in carcerne cwicne ne gemetton “found none alive in the prison” in Andreas, in the Vercelli Book.^[13][6]
• s. x/xi – cwico and cwicne in the Beowulf manuscript.^[14][15]

Meanings

Adjective

1. alive, living.^[7][15][16]
2. (law) live, of livestock.^[7][8]
3. lively, mentally agile, keen.^[7][1]

Word family

• cwician
• cwicseolfor
• ēdcwic
• healfcwic
• sāmcwic

Descendants

• Middle English quyk (→ English quick; Scots quick; Scots queek)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 323
3. ^ a b c Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 48
4. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 230
5. ^ 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
6. ^ 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
7. ^ 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. 179
8. ^ a b Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 44
9. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 180
10. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ 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
12. ^ 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
13. ^ 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. 704
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. 344
15. ^ a b 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. cwic
16. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. cwic