manig

Forms

maniġ^[1] Also moniġ, mæniġ, meniġ and maneġ.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *manag, from Proto-Germanic *managaz (“many”).^[1][4][5] The adjective is common Germanic: Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌽𐌰𐌲𐍃 (manags), Old Norse margr (with assimilation, beside late mangr), Old Frisian manich, Old Saxon manag and Old High German manag.^[4][5][6]

Outside Germanic it agrees with Proto-Slavic *mъnogъ (“much, many”) and Old Irish menic (“frequent”).^[4][5] Kroonen calls it a north-west Indo-European word whose forms cannot be reduced to one proto-form; it has therefore been taken as a loan from a non-Indo-European language, which the related Finnish moni (“many”), not borrowed from Germanic, supports.^[4] Köbler gives Pokorny's Proto-Indo-European *menegʰ- “abundant” instead.^[3]

The suffix ⟨-iġ⟩ goes back to *-ag, fronted in the earliest Old English as in hāliġ.^[7] Before the nasal the stressed vowel varies between ⟨a⟩ and ⟨o⟩, ⟨maniġe⟩ beside ⟨moniġe⟩.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in the Vespasian Psalter gloss of the mid-ninth century: Ymbsaldon me calfur monig “many calves surrounded me” renders Latin “Circumdederunt me uituli multi” (Psalm 21).^[9][10] The Pastoral Care of 890×897 has Ac monige sindon me suiðe onlice on ungelærednesse “but many are very like me in lack of learning”.^[11][10]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller show it with a plural noun, “many”, and with a singular noun, “many a” (manig man, guþrinc monig in Beowulf), where the verb may still be plural.^[2] It is often used alone, “many (people)”, and with a genitive, as heora monig ðusend “many thousands of them” in the Orosius.^[12][13] Liebermann notes that the singular in the laws is to be understood as “many”.^[14] It renders Latin multus, plurimus and plerusque in the glosses.^[3]

It lived on as Middle English mani, now English many.^[15][16]

Timeline

• s. ix med. – calfur monig “many calves” in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[9][10]
• 890×897 – monige “many (people)” in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[11][10]
• s. x¹ or x²/⁴ – swyðe manig burh “very many a town” in the Old English Orosius.^[17][2]
• s. x/xi – guþrinc monig “many a warrior” in the Beowulf manuscript.^[18][2]
• a1121 – Manige Frencisce & Englisce in the Peterborough Chronicle.^[15]

Meanings

Adjective

1. many, with a plural noun.^[2][3]
2. many a, with a singular noun.^[2][12]

Pronoun

1. many, many people, used alone.^[2][12]
2. many of, with a genitive.^[13]

Word family

• maniġfeald
• maniġfealdlīċ
• meniġu
• unmaniġ

Descendants

• Middle English mani (→ English many; Scots mony)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 668
3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. manig
4. ^ a b c d e Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 352
5. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 259
6. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 214
7. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 6.2
8. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 144
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. 329
10. ^ 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
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. 499
12. ^ a b c 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. moniġ
13. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 631
14. ^ Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 140
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. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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. 249
18. ^ 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