glidan

Forms

glīdan (strong class 1; third-person singular present glītt, past singular glād, past plural glidon)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *glīdan, from Proto-Germanic *glīdaną (“to glide, slide”).^[1][2] The strong verb is West Germanic: Old Frisian glīda, Old Saxon glīdan (“to slip”) and Old High German glītan (now German gleiten); Old Swedish glīda may be borrowed from West Germanic.^[3][4][5]

Kroonen reconstructs the present as Proto-Indo-European *gʰléydʰ-e- and suggests a link with Lithuanian glitùs (“slippery”), which would make *gʰleydʰ- an extension of a root *gʰley-; he also compares Old Norse gleiðr (“standing astride”).^[2] Köbler traces it to Proto-Indo-European *gʰleydʰ- (“to glide”) and further to Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰel- (“to shine”);^[6] Orel takes it for a voiced variant of the root of *klīþōn.^[3] Etymonline counts it among the many Germanic words in ⟨gl⟩ for smoothness and shining.^[7]

It is a strong verb of the first class.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is in the Pastoral Care of the Hatton manuscript (890×897), of the mind's slow fall into idle talk: Oft ðonne ðæt hefige mod glit niðor & niðor stæpmælum on unnyttum wordum “Often then the heavy mind slides lower and lower, step by step, into useless words”.^[10][11]

Semantic evolution

The verb names smooth, continuous movement: of a boat or a fish through water (Ðeós bát glídeþ on geofene in Andreas), of a devil through the air, and above all of the sun and stars moving over the sky: in Beowulf heofones gim glād ofer grundas “heaven's gem had glided over the earth”.^[8][12][9] Ælfric uses it of the star of the Magi going before them.^[12] It also means to slip or slide, as of a plaster that must not slip off in Bald's Leechbook, and to glide away, vanish.^[13][11] Most of its occurrences are in verse: Andreas, Beowulf, the Meters of Boethius and The Riming Poem.^[11]

Its continuation Middle English gliden still meant to pass smoothly through the air or sky, and to slip down; it is now English glide, which later took weak forms.^[14][7]

Timeline

• 890×897 – glit niðor & niðor in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[10][11]
• s. x med. – þæt hio aweg ne glide, of a plaster, in Bald's Leechbook (Royal 12 D. xvii).^[15][11]
• s. x² – glīdan of a boat and of the sun in Andreas in the Vercelli Book.^[16][17]
• s. x/xi – glād and glidon in the Beowulf manuscript.^[18][9]
• c1225 – Middle English hit fæire glod, of light, in Sanctus Beda.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. to glide, move smoothly, through water, the air or the sky.^[8][12][9]
2. to slip, slide.^[8][19]
3. to glide away, vanish.^[13]

Word family

• ætglīdan
• tōglīdan

Descendants

• Middle English gliden (→ Scots glyde; Scots glide; English glide)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 181
3. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 136
4. ^ Seebold, Elmar (1970), Vergleichendes und etymologisches Wörterbuch der germanischen starken Verben, The Hague / Paris: Mouton, p. 230
5. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 133
6. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. glīdan
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 481
9. ^ 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. glīdan
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. 499
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 476
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. 156
14. ^ 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)
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. 704
17. ^ North, Richard; Bintley, Michael D. J., eds. (2016), Andreas: An Edition, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press (glossary), p. s.v. glīdan
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
19. ^ Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 98