geong

Forms

ġeong^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *jung, from Proto-Germanic *jungaz (“young”).^[1][2] The adjective is shared by all the old Germanic languages: Gothic 𐌾𐌿𐌲𐌲𐍃 (juggs), Old Norse ungr, Old Frisian jung, Old Saxon jung and Old High German jung.^[2][3][4]

Kroonen gives the usual reconstruction, Proto-Indo-European *h₂iu-Hn-ko-, a formation made to Proto-Indo-European *h₂oi-u- (“lifetime, age”) with a possessive suffix.^[2] Orel compares Latin iuvencus (“youth”), Old Irish óac (“young”) and Welsh ieuanc (“young”), from Proto-Indo-European *i̯uu̯n̥-k̂ó-.^[3] Wiktionary writes Proto-Indo-European *h₂yuHn̥ḱós and explains the Germanic ⟨g⟩ by Verner's law.^[1]

The spelling ⟨ġeo-⟩ shows /j/ before /u/ in early West Saxon; late West Saxon more often wrote ⟨iung⟩, and Northumbrian has ⟨ġiung⟩ and more often ⟨ġing⟩.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in the Vespasian Psalter gloss, added in the middle of the ninth century, in the Anglian form ging: Psalm 118 has In ðon gereceð ging weg his “by this the younger man shall correct his way” over the Latin “iuuenior”.^[7][8] The Pastoral Care of 890×897 has the late spelling in a chapter heading on how ða iungan “the young” and ða ealdan “the old” are to be taught.^[9][8]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller gloss it “young, youthful, new, recent, fresh”, used of people and animals (the young shepherd of his folk in Beowulf) and of things, as new cheese in the Leechdoms or recent gifts in The Phoenix.^[10] The comparative is ġingra “younger” and the superlative ġingest “youngest”, which in Beowulf and the Pastoral Care also means “last”.^[11][12] In glosses it renders Latin iuvenis, iuvenculus and parvulus.^[4] Beowulf has geongum and ealdum “to young and old”.^[10]

It lived on as Middle English yong, now English young.^[1][13]

Timeline

• s. ix med. – ging for Latin “iuuenior” in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[7][8]
• 890×897 – ða iungan “the young” in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[9][8]
• s. x/xi – geong in the Beowulf manuscript.^[14][12]

Meanings

Adjective

1. young, youthful.^[10][12]
2. new, recent, fresh.^[10][11]
3. (superlative) latest, last.^[11][12]

Word family

• ġeonga
• ġingra
• heaþoġeong

Descendants

• Middle English yong (→ English young; Middle Scots ȝong; Middle Scots ȝoung)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 274
3. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 207
4. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. geong
5. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 5.60
6. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 2.68
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. 329
8. ^ a b c d Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
9. ^ 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. 499
10. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 426
11. ^ a b c Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 105
12. ^ a b c d 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. ġeong
13. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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