gan

Forms

gān (irregular; third-person singular present gǣþ, past singular ēode, past plural ēodon)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *gān, from Proto-Germanic *gāną (“to go”).^[1] Ringe and Taylor reconstruct its Proto-West Germanic present with a third person singular *gaiþ and an imperative *gai.^[2] It has close cognates in Old Frisian gān, Old Saxon gān, Old High German gān (also gēn), and in the Scandinavian languages, Old Swedish gā.^[3][4][5]

Kroonen calls the derivation of the verb difficult: most of the North and West Germanic forms point to *gēn-, which can come from an athematic present of Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₁-, but the Old English form can only go back to *gai-.^[3] For that he weighs an i-present, or a compound of the perfective prefix *ga- with the root Proto-Indo-European *h₁ey- (“to go”), as Kluge and Kortlandt proposed.^[3] Wiktionary glosses that root “to go, reach” and notes that it may have had only a present tense in Germanic.^[1] Köbler also names this root, beside Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰengʰ- (“to stride”).^[5]

The past ēode comes from another root, like Gothic 𐌹𐌳𐌳𐌾𐌰 (iddja, “went”).^[6][7] The verb existed beside the strong verb gangan.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The present gæð appears in the bounds of a charter of King Æthelwulf of Wessex dated 846: ðær fyxan dic to broce gæð “where the fox's ditch runs to the brook”.^[8][9] The charter survives on a single sheet of the mid-ninth century, held to be contemporary by some scholars and doubtful by others.^[8] The Old English gloss of the Vespasian Psalter, of the mid-ninth century, has ic in ne ga for Latin “non introibo”, “I will not go in”.^[10][9]

Semantic evolution

The verb covers going, coming and walking, and also what happens: Bosworth and Toller quote Gæþ a wyrd swa hio sceal “fate always goes as it must” from Beowulf.^[6] Toller's Supplement adds the sense “to go on foot”, as against creeping or riding.^[11] With the prefix ge- it also means to win, conquer and occupy.^[12][13] In glosses it renders Latin “ire”, “ambulare”, “intrare” and “introire”.^[5] The laws use it of cattle going to pasture, and before a second verb of the same form.^[14]

It lived on as Middle English gon, whose past was supplied by yede, gangen and wenden, as in Old English by ēode and gangan.^[15] It survives as English go.^[15][16]

Timeline

• 846 – ðær fyxan dic to broce gæð in the bounds of King Æthelwulf's charter for South Hams, Devon.^[8][9]
• s. ix med. – ic in ne ga “I will not go in” in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[10][9]
• 890×897 – Oft ðonne se hirde gæð on frecne wegas “often when the shepherd goes on dangerous ways” in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[17][9]
• s. ix/x – hiera cyn gæþ to Cerdice “their line goes back to Cerdic” in the Parker Chronicle.^[18][9]
• s. x/xi – Gæþ a wyrd swa hio sceal in the Beowulf manuscript.^[19][6][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. to go, move, proceed.^[6][5]
2. to walk, go on foot.^[11]
3. to come; to enter.^[6][1]
4. to happen, turn out.^[6][12]
5. (with ge-) to gain, conquer, occupy; to practise.^[12][13]

Word family

• āgān
• begān
• forgān
• ofergān
• ūtgān
• upgān
• ingān
• tōgān
• þurhgān
• ymbgān

Descendants

• Middle English gon (→ English go; English gan; Middle Scots go)^[1]

Related words

• gang
• gangan

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 109
3. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 174
4. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 133
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. gān
6. ^ 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. 360
7. ^ 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. gān
8. ^ a b c The Electronic Sawyer: Online Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Charters, revised ed. by S. E. Kelly and R. Rushforth, King's College London / University of Cambridge, esawyer.lib.cam.ac.uk, p. S 298
9. ^ 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
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. 329
11. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 280
12. ^ a b c Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 123
13. ^ 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. 146
14. ^ Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 85
15. ^ 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)
16. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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. 499
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. 83
19. ^ 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