græg

Forms

grǣġ^[1] Early grei in the Épinal, Erfurt and Corpus glossaries, where ⟨i⟩ for final ⟨-iġ⟩ or ⟨-ġ⟩ is common.^[2][3] Anglian grēġ beside West Saxon grǣġ.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *grāg, a by-form of *grāu,^[1] from Proto-Germanic *grēwaz (“grey”).^[6][7][1] The form without ⟨g⟩ is the separate adjective grǣw.^[1][8] The Germanic adjective survives as Old Norse grár, Old Frisian grē and Old High German grāo.^[6][7]

Kroonen calls it an old colour word in *-wa-, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰreh₁-, and compares Lithuanian žėrėti (“to glow, sparkle”) and Old Church Slavonic “to see”.^[6][1] Orel instead equates it with Latin rāvus (“grey”).^[7] Köbler likewise sets it under Pokorny's root “to shine, gleam”.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded as grei in the Épinal Glossary, of the late seventh or the turn of the seventh and eighth centuries: glaucum hæuui uel grei glosses Latin “glaucum” “blue-grey” with hǣwi “or grey”.^[9][10] The Corpus Glossary, of the first half of the ninth century, has Ferrugine isern grei, “iron-grey” for Latin “ferrugine”.^[11][10]

Semantic evolution

In the poems the adjective goes with the wolf (wulf se græga in Maxims I and The Battle of Brunanburh), the gull (se græga mæw in Andreas), the sea, and weapons: Abraham girds himself grægan sweorde “with a grey sword” in Genesis A, and the spear-shafts of ash in Beowulf are ufan græg “grey at the top”.^[5][10] Klaeber glosses it “grey, silvery” there.^[12] Charter bounds run to a grey stone, and Ælfric says that God does not dwell on ðam grægum stanum “in the grey stones” of idols.^[2][10] In the glosses it renders Latin glaucus, ferrugineus and gilvus.^[13]

It became Middle English grei, which the MED derives from Old English with Old Norse influence; it is now English grey and English gray.^[4]

Timeline

• s. vii ex. or vii/viii – hæuui uel grei for Latin “glaucum” in the Épinal Glossary.^[9][10]
• s. ix¹ – isern grei “iron-grey” in the Corpus Glossary.^[11][10]
• s. x² – se græga mæw “the grey gull” in Andreas (Vercelli Book).^[14][10]
• s. x² – wulf se græga in Maxims I (Exeter Book).^[15][10]
• s. x/xi – æscholt ufan græg in the Beowulf manuscript.^[16][10]
• s. xi in. – the grey stones of idols in Ælfric's Lives of Saints.^[17][10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. grey, of animals, stone, the sea and weapons.^[5][13]
2. (poetic) grey, silvery, of spears and mail.^[12]

Word family

• īsengrǣġ
• æsċgrǣġ
• flintgrǣġ
• dungrǣġ

Descendants

• Middle English grey (→ English gray; English grey; Scots gray)^[1]

Related words

• grǣw

Usage notes

The charter bounds also have grǣġ as a noun, which LangScape tentatively glosses “badger”; the MED derives Middle English grei “badger” from it.^[18][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 483
3. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 2.18
4. ^ a b c 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)
5. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 486
6. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 189
7. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 142
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. grǣw
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. 610
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
11. ^ 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
12. ^ 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. grǣġ
13. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. grǣg
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. 704
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. 223
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. ^ 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. 282
18. ^ LangScape: The Language of Landscape: Reading the Anglo-Saxon Countryside, King's College London, langscape.org.uk