Etymologically
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lecgan

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈlej.jɑn/, [ˈled.d͡ʒɑn][1]

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]
  • 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