nacod

Forms

nacod^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *nak(k)wad, from Proto-Germanic *nakwadaz (“naked”).^[1][2] The Proto-Germanic adjective lives on in Gothic 𐌽𐌰𐌵𐌰𐌸𐍃 (naqaþs), Old Norse nǫkkviðr, Old Frisian naked, Middle Low German naket and Old High German nackot.^[3][4] Ringe and Taylor explain the Old High German variant nahhut, beside nackot, by a single /k/ in Proto-West Germanic where nackot has a doubled one.^[2]

Orel holds the Germanic word identical with Latin nūdus (“naked”), and adds Hittite nekumant-, Sanskrit नग्न (nagná), Old Irish nocht, Lithuanian nuogas and Proto-Slavic *nagъ, all meaning “naked”.^[3] Holthausen gives the same comparison with Latin.^[4] Köbler and Wiktionary trace it to the root Proto-Indo-European *negʷ- (“bare, naked”).^[5][1]

The vowel is the retracted /a/ found before a back vowel in the following syllable: *nækud became nacod.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adjective is recorded in the Pastoral Care, in a manuscript of 890×897: a talkative ruler shuts himself out of his own thoughts & sua nacodne hine selfne eowige to wundigeanne his feondum “and so shows himself naked to be wounded by his enemies”, since no fortress encloses him.^[7][8]

Semantic evolution

Most often the word describes a person without clothing, as Adam in Genesis and the poor in the homilies.^[9] Applied to things it means bare or uncovered: in Beowulf it describes drawn swords and the smooth dragon (nacod nīðdraca).^[10] It could also mean destitute, and of words empty.^[11] In glosses it renders Latin “nudus” and “exertus”.^[9][5] It continues as Middle English naked, now English naked.^[1][12]

Timeline

• 890×897 – nacodne “naked” in the Pastoral Care.^[7][8]
• s. x ex. – the word in Ælfric's Catholic Homilies I.^[13][8]
• s. x/xi – nacod of swords and of the dragon in the Beowulf manuscript.^[10][14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. naked, without clothing.^[9][5]
2. bare, uncovered; of a sword, unsheathed.^[9][10]
3. destitute; of words, empty.^[11]

Word family

• healfnacod
• nacodnes

Descendants

• Middle English naked (→ English naked; Scots nakit)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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. 49
3. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 280
4. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 299
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. nacod
6. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 191
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
9. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 706
10. ^ 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. nacod
11. ^ a b Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 144
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. 407
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. 344