gretan

Forms

grētan (weak class 1; third-person singular present grēteþ, past singular grētte, past plural grētton)^[1] Northumbrian grœ̄ta.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *grōtijan (“to address, to greet”), from Proto-Germanic *grōtijaną (“to cause to weep”), the causative of *grētaną (“to weep”).^[1][3][4] The causative is kept in Old Norse grœta (“to make weep”), and the base verb in Gothic 𐌲𐍂𐌴𐍄𐌰𐌽 (grētan, “to weep”) and gráta (“to weep”).^[3][5] In West Germanic the causative changed its meaning to “address, greet”: Old Frisian grēta (“to accuse”), Old Saxon grōtian (“to hail, to address”), Old High German gruozen.^[3] Orel calls the base verb of unknown origin;^[5][6][7] Köbler connects it with the root Proto-Indo-European *gʰrēd- (“to weep”) (Pokorny p. 439), and Etymonline calls the English verb of uncertain origin.^[5][6][7]

By i-umlaut of ō the inherited ⟨*grōtijan⟩ became ⟨*grœ̄tjąn⟩, which gave the Northumbrian form ⟨grœ̄ta⟩ and the West Saxon form.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is in the Pastoral Care in Hatton 20, written 890×897, of a harper: “Ealle he gret mid anre honda”, “he touches them all [the strings] with one hand”;^[8][9][10] Bosworth and Toller list it under the sense “to touch, handle”.^[8][9][10] The sense “to greet” is found in the Old English Bede, of a visitor: “grette hine & frægn”, “he greeted him and asked”.^[11][9]

Semantic evolution

The Old English verb covers coming into contact with someone or something in any way: to approach, visit, touch or handle, to treat a subject, to attack, to have sexual intercourse with, and to speak to, greet or bid farewell.^[12][13][7] Hearpan grētan, literally “to touch the harp”, meant to play it.^[10][13] Klaeber gives Beowulf both “approach, touch, attack” and “greet, address”.^[14] In glosses it renders Latin salutare and convenire.^[6]

As Middle English greten it came to mean chiefly “to greet, pay one's respects to”, the sense of English greet; the primary sense became “to salute” in English, German and Dutch alike.^[15][7]

Timeline

• 890×897 – Ealle he gret mid anre honda “he touches them all with one hand” in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[8][9]
• s. x in. or xi¹ – grette hine “greeted him” in the Old English Bede (Tanner 10).^[11][9]
• s. x¹ or x²/⁴ – se dæl se þæt flod ne grette “the part that the flood did not touch” in the Old English Orosius.^[16][9]
• s. x/xi – gomenwudu grētte “played the harp” in the Beowulf manuscript.^[17][10]
• c. 1175 – Middle English grette: an angel came to him and greeted him, in the History of the Holy Rood-tree.^[15]

Meanings

Verb

1. to touch, handle;^[10][13] hearpan grētan to play the harp.^[10][13]
2. to approach, come to, visit.^[12][14]
3. to attack, lay hands on; to treat ill.^[10][14]
4. to treat (a person medically, or a subject in speech).^[10][12]
5. (euphemistic) to have sexual intercourse with.^[12][13]
6. to greet, salute, address; to bid farewell.^[12][14][1]

Word family

• ġegrētan

Descendants

• Middle English greten (→ English greet; Scots grete; Scots greit)^[1]

Usage notes

A separate verb grētan or grǣtan, past grēt, means “to weep, bewail”; it continues the Proto-Germanic base verb that grētan “to greet” is the causative of.^[18][5][19]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 227
3. ^ a b c Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 128
4. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 144
5. ^ a b c d Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 142
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. grētan
7. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ 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. 499
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 c d e f g h Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 486
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. 531
12. ^ a b c d e Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 489
13. ^ a b c d e Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 99
14. ^ 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. grētan
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. ^ 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. 249
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. 344
18. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 488
19. ^ Nerthus: An Online Lexical Database of Old English, Universidad de La Rioja, nerthusproject.com (derivational paradigms, via the Nerthus Project's open data), p. s.v. grētan