macian

Forms

macian (weak class 2; third-person singular present macaþ, past singular macode, past plural macodon)^[1]

Etymology

It is usually held to be inherited from Proto-West Germanic *makōn, though a borrowing from Old Saxon makōn has been suggested; the Middle English Dictionary too asks whether it is from Old Saxon.^[1][2] The weak verb of the second class is shared with Old Dutch macon, Old Frisian makia (“to make, to do”) and Old High German mahhōn (“to make”).^[3][4][5][6] Wiktionary analyses it as an adjective *mak (“fit, suitable”) with the verb suffix *-ōną.^[1]

Orel adds Icelandic maka (“to smear”), equates the verb with Proto-Slavic *mazati (“to smear”) and connects it with Ancient Greek μάσσω (mássō, “to knead”).^[7] Holthausen and Köbler make the same connection with words for kneading and smearing, and Köbler names the root Proto-Indo-European *mag̑- (“to knead, to press, to make”) (Pokorny p. 696).^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is in the Pastoral Care in Hatton 20, written 890×897: of marriage, Paul set out “hu men scoldon ðærinne hit macian”, “how people should conduct themselves in it”, rendering Latin qualiter debeant conversari.^[8][9][10]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller define the verb as to make, do and act.^[10] Their examples cover creating (“I will make of thee a great nation”), forming an inflection in Ælfric's Grammar, preparing food, causing strife, making someone a martyr, and doing or behaving in a certain way;^[10][11] Clark Hall adds to use, to fare and to transform.^[10][11] It is a word of prose: the DOE Corpus has 165 tokens in 59 texts, none of them poems.^[9]

It continued as Middle English maken, first of God creating the world and of making things in general, now English make.^[2][12]

Timeline

• 890×897 – hu men scoldon ðærinne hit macian “how people should conduct themselves in it” in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[8][9]
• s. x med. – ðæt hit eall swa mihtiglice macað “that does everything so mightily” in the Old English Boethius.^[13][9]
• s. x ex. – hu hit macode “how it had fared” in Ælfric's Catholic Homilies I.^[14][10]
• a. 1225 – Middle English maken “to create” in the Vespasian homilies.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. to make, create, construct.^[10][11]
2. (grammar) to form an inflected form.^[10][1]
3. to prepare, arrange (food, a feast, sport).^[10][11]
4. to cause, bring about.^[11][4]
5. to act, behave; to fare.^[10][11]
6. to use; to transform.^[11]

Word family

• ġemacian
• macung

Descendants

• Middle English maken (→ English make; Scots mak; Scots maak)^[1]

Related words

• ġemaca
• ġemæc
• ġemæċċa
• maca

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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)
3. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 209
4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. macian
5. ^ Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. makia
6. ^ Tiefenbach, Heinrich (2010), Altsächsisches Handwörterbuch / A Concise Old Saxon Dictionary, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter, p. 303
7. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 257
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b c d 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 i Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 653
11. ^ a b c d e f g Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 224
12. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
13. ^ 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
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. 407