nigon

Forms

nigon^[1] nigen in the charter of King Berhtwulf of Mercia (S 204).^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *nigun, from Proto-Germanic *newun (“nine”).^[1][3] The numeral appears as Gothic 𐌽𐌹𐌿𐌽 (niun), Old Norse níu, Old Frisian nigun, Old Saxon nigun and Old High German niun.^[3][4][5] It continues Proto-Indo-European *h₁néwn̥ (“nine”),^[3][1] the source also of Latin novem and Ancient Greek ἐννέα (ennéa).^[4]

The ⟨g⟩ of the Old English, Old Frisian and Old Saxon forms, against the ⟨u⟩ of Gothic and Old High German, is explained in different ways: Wiktionary calls the West Germanic form an unexplained variant.^[1] Kroonen explains it as a velarisation of *w between two high vowels: the *e was raised to *i before *u in the next syllable, giving *niwun, whose *w then became *g.^[3] Ringe and Taylor treat *nigun as a form of northern West Germanic, beside a form with medial *g for “tenth”.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The numeral is first recorded in a grant of 844×845 by Berhtwulf, king of Mercia, to his thegn Forthred, of nigen higida lond “land of nine hides” at Wotton Underwood in Buckinghamshire.^[2][7] The single sheet is of the mid-ninth century and has been held to be contemporary, though one scholar thought it perhaps a slightly later copy.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It was used as an adjective, often uninflected, and as a noun, which could be inflected (nigene, nigonum).^[8][9] In Beowulf the hero slays niceras nigene “nine sea monsters”.^[8][10] It formed higher numbers with and (nigon and hundnigontig “ninety-nine”) and ordinals such as “seventy-ninth”, and in the laws the king's peace reaches nine feet and nine barleycorns.^[9] The glosses render Latin novem.^[5]

It lived on as Middle English nyn, now English nine.^[11][12]

Timeline

• s. ix med. – nigen higida lond in the Mercian charter S 204.^[2][7]
• 890×897 – ofer nigon & hundnigontig ryhtwisra “over ninety-nine just men” in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[13][7]
• s. ix/x – in the Parker manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.^[14][7]
• s. x/xi – niceras nigene in Beowulf.^[15][10]

Meanings

Numeral

1. nine, as an adjective and as a noun.^[8][9][16]

Word family

• nigoþa
• nigontīene
• hundnigontiġ

Descendants

• Middle English nyn (→ English nine; Scots nine; Scots neen)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d The Electronic Sawyer: Online Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Charters, revised ed. by S. E. Kelly and R. Rushforth, King's College London / University of Cambridge, esawyer.lib.cam.ac.uk, p. S 204
3. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 389
4. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 285
5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. nigon
6. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 166
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 720
9. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 651
10. ^ a b 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. nigon
11. ^ 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)
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. 499
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. 83
15. ^ 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
16. ^ Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 249