sagu

Forms

sagu f (nominative plural sage or saga) (strong ō-stem)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *sagǭ (“statement, story”),^[1] which Kroonen writes ⟨*sagō(n)-⟩.^[2] Its cognates are Old Norse saga (“story, account, history”), Old Frisian sege (“statement, testimony”) and Old High German saga (“story, statement”).^[2][3] It belongs with the verb Proto-Germanic *sagjaną, Old English secgan “to say”.^[2][4]

Orel and Wiktionary trace it to the Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“to say”) and compare Lithuanian pãsaka (“story”).^[3][1] Kroonen thinks the likeness to the Baltic word chance, because a preform Proto-Indo-European *sokʷ-éh₂- would have given Proto-Germanic ⟨*sawō-⟩ instead.^[2]

Hogg and Fulk note that in Late West Saxon light ō-stems such as this one sometimes carry the ending ⟨-u⟩ through the singular, as in an accusative ⟨sagu⟩.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Most of the word's records are in undated glosses and copies; the first securely dated one is in Ælfric's Lives of Saints, in a manuscript of the early eleventh century, where Swithun tells the dreamer to give a sign, and if the ring will not come up þonne ne sceall he nates hwon þinre sage gelyfan “then he shall not believe your word at all”.^[6][7][8]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller divide the senses into a saying, statement or tale, a report, the testimony of a witness, and a foretelling.^[9] In the gospels it is testimony: Hi sohton lease saga “they sought false witness” against Jesus.^[9] Ælfric distinguishes a true account from lease sagu “a false tale”, and his Grammar defines fabulae as the saga that men tell against nature.^[9] In the account of the Sandwich dispute, of after 1037×1040, the king læg ... & asweartode eall mid þare sage “lay and turned black all over at that report”.^[10][7] In the glosses it renders praesagia and vaticinationes, a prophecy.^[9]

Bosworth and Toller quote it from Laȝamon as saȝe, and Chaucer and Piers Plowman have sawe;^[9][1] Wiktionary continues it as Middle English sawe, English saw “a saying”.^[9][1]

Timeline

• s. xi in. – þinre sage gelyfan “believe your word” in Ælfric's Lives of Saints.^[6][7]
• s. xi med. – mid þare sage “at that report” in the account of the Sandwich dispute.^[10][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. a saying, statement; a tale, story.^[9][11]
2. a report, narration, tradition.^[9][4]
3. the statement of a witness, testimony.^[9][4]
4. (glosses) a foretelling, prophecy.^[9][11]

Word family

• ġesagu
• onsagu

Descendants

• Middle English sawe (→ English saw)^[1]

Usage notes

A second noun sagu, “saw”, the tool, is a separate word: Kroonen derives it from Proto-Germanic *sagō- (“saw”) and the root Proto-Indo-European *sek- (“to cut”).^[2][9] It is the sage that a reeve must have with his axe and adze.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 421
3. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 311
4. ^ a b c Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 166
5. ^ Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 3.75
6. ^ 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. 282
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. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 693
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 813
10. ^ a b 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 1467
11. ^ a b Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 288