lecgan

Forms

leċġan (third-person singular present leġþ, past singular leġde, past plural leġdon)^[1] Bosworth–Toller gives the past forms legde, lægde and lēde.^[2] Northern Mercian (the Rushworth gloss) keeps a past ālæġde and plural læġdun; the usual inflection is leċġan, leġde, leġd.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *laggjan, from Proto-Germanic *lagjaną (“to lay, to put”).^[1][4] The Proto-Germanic verb is the causative of *ligjaną (“to lie”), which gave liċġan.^[1][5] It is found across Germanic: Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 (lagjan), Old Norse leggja, Old Frisian ledza, Old Saxon leggian and Old High German leggen.^[4][6][7] De Vries likewise calls the Norse verb the causative of liggja (“to lie”).^[8]

Kroonen reconstructs an o-grade causative *logʰ-éye- of Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- (“to lie down”), and Köbler traces it to the same root.^[4][9] Orel finds the closest match outside Germanic in Proto-Slavic *ložiti (“to put, to lay”).^[6]

In West Germanic the consonant before *j was doubled, so that *lagjaną became *[laggjan]; in Old English the vowel was then fronted and raised by i-umlaut and the doubled consonant palatalised, giving leċġan.^[5][10] The past had no *j: Proto-Germanic *lagid(ēd)un (“they laid”) gave læġdun, preserved in northern Mercian, while West Saxon leġdun took its vowel from the present.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is first recorded in the Pastoral Care of 890×897 (Hatton 20), in the passage on the offerings that the wind must not scatter: ða lac ... ðe mon on ðæt weobud legde “the gifts that were laid on the altar”.^[12][13] Toller's Supplement quotes the same line for the sense “to place on a surface”.^[14]

Semantic evolution

The core sense is “to cause to lie”: to lay or put a thing down, and to lay a dead body in the grave.^[2] Toller added the senses “to lower” (a ship's mast), “to strike down, slay”, “to lay an egg” and, in the laws, “to deposit a pledge” (wedd lecgan).^[14] Liebermann's glossary of the laws records the same uses: to lay down, to pledge, to bury and to strike down or execute.^[15] With on it means “to lay upon, impose”, and so “to charge someone with”, and in poetry lāstas lecgan is “to go, journey”.^[16][17] In glosses it renders Latin sternō and substernō.^[9]

The verb lived on as Middle English leyen, now English lay.^[1][18]

Timeline

• 890×897 – ðe mon on ðæt weobud legde, of gifts laid on the altar, in the Pastoral Care.^[12][13]
• s. x med. – het he hi bindan & on balcan lecgan “he ordered them to be bound and laid on beams” in the Old English Boethius.^[19][13]
• s. x med. – lecgende sealfe, a salve to be laid on, in Bald's Leechbook.^[20][13]
• s. x² – in the riddles and Deor of the Exeter Book.^[21][13]
• s. x³/⁴ – in the Lindisfarne Gospels gloss.^[22][13]
• c. 995 – Hwǣr leġdest þū mīne bōc? “Where did you put my book?” in Ælfric's Grammar.^[1]

Meanings

Verb

1. to lay, put or place something down.^[2][9]
2. to lay a body in the grave, to bury.^[14][16]
3. to lay (an egg).^[14][1]
4. to strike down, slay.^[14][15]
5. (law) to deposit a pledge.^[14][15]
6. with on: to lay upon, impose; to charge someone with.^[16][17]
7. (poetic) in lāstas lecgan, to go, journey.^[16][17]

Word family

• āleċġan
• beleċġan
• forleċġan
• geleċġan
• oferleċġan
• ofleċġan
• underleċġan

Descendants

• Middle English leyen (→ English lay; Scots lay)^[1]

Related words

• ġeliġer
• leġer
• liċġan

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 627
3. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 358
4. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 322
5. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 51
6. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 231
7. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 197
8. ^ de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 349
9. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. lecgan
10. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 213
11. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 212
12. ^ 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
13. ^ 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
14. ^ a b c d e f Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 609
15. ^ a b c Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 132
16. ^ a b c d Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 214
17. ^ a b c Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 127
18. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
19. ^ 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. 296
20. ^ 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
21. ^ 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
22. ^ 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. 291