grædig

Forms

grǣdiġ (superlative grǣdgost)^[1] gredig, which Etymonline calls the Anglian form.^[2] It glosses Latin inhians in the Épinal Glossary, and gredge glosses ambrones in the Corpus Glossary.^[3][4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *grādag, from Proto-Germanic *grēdagaz (“hungry, greedy”),^[1][6] an adjective made to the noun Proto-Germanic *grēduz (“hunger, desire”), which survives in grǣd “greed”.^[7][8] Kroonen reconstructs the adjective as *grēduga-, beside a form in ⟨-aga-⟩.^[7] Its cognates are Gothic 𐌲𐍂𐌴𐌳𐌰𐌲𐍃 (grēdags, “hungry”), Old Norse gráðugr, Old Saxon grādag and Old High German grātag.^[7][6][8] The noun itself is Gothic 𐌲𐍂𐌴𐌳𐌿𐍃 (grēdus, “hunger”) and Old Norse gráðr.^[7][6]

Kroonen derives the noun as a tu-stem from the root Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰreh₁-, and Orel from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰer-, the root of Ancient Greek χαίρω (khaírō, “to rejoice”).^[7][6] Köbler marks the Indo-European connection with a question mark.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is among the oldest English glosses: the Épinal Glossary, written about 700, has inhians gredig, the Latin “gaping (for)” rendered as “greedy”.^[3][5] In the Pastoral Care (890×897) Saul is said to have become sua ungemetlice grædig ðæs godan deaþes “so immoderately greedy for the good man's death”.^[10][5]

Semantic evolution

Toller's Supplement orders the senses from appetite for food, said of people, animals, teeth and lips, to sexual appetite, then to greed for gain and to plain eagerness.^[11] The poets pair it with gīfre “ravenous”: hell, the worms of the grave and Satan's followers are gifre ond grædige.^[12][11] In Beowulf it is said of Grendel and of his mother, grim ond grædig, where Klaeber gives “fierce” beside “greedy”.^[13] The covetous sense is Ælfric's: the more a man has, the greedier he becomes.^[11]

The word continued as Middle English gredi, “gluttonous, hungry, ravenous”, now English greedy.^[14][2] Etymonline treats grædig as the West Saxon form and gredig as the Anglian one.^[2]

Timeline

• s. vii ex. – gredig glossing Latin inhians in the Épinal Glossary.^[3][5]
• s. ix¹ – gredge glossing ambrones “gluttons” in the Corpus Glossary.^[4][11]
• 890×897 – grædig ðæs godan deaþes “greedy for the good man's death” in the Pastoral Care.^[10][5]
• s. x ex. – ðam grædigan fisce “the greedy fish” that sees the bait but not the hook, in Ælfric's Catholic Homilies I.^[15][12]
• s. x/xi – grim ond grædig of Grendel in the Beowulf manuscript.^[16][13]
• c1225 – Middle English gredi “gluttonous”.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. very hungry, ravenous, voracious, of people and animals;^[11][9][13] (poetic) fierce.^[11][9][13]
2. (glosses) lustful.^[11]
3. greedy, covetous, eager for gain; with the genitive, greedy for something.^[12][11]
4. keen, eager.^[11][17]

Word family

• grǣdiġlīċe
• grǣdignes
• heorogrǣdiġ
• hildegrǣdiġ
• wælgrǣdiġ

Descendants

• Middle English gredy (→ English greedy; Scots gredy; Scots gredie)^[1]

Related words

• grǣd

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c 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. 610
4. ^ 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. 76
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 142
7. ^ a b c d e Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 187
8. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 135
9. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. grǣdig
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 f g h i Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 483
12. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 486
13. ^ 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. grǣdiġ
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. 407
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. 344
17. ^ Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 99