scacan

Forms

sċacan (third-person singular present sċæcþ, past singular sċōc, past plural sċōcon)^[1] sċeacan, with the ⟨e⟩ of palatal diphthongisation after ⟨sċ⟩, beside sċacan; such spellings are more frequent in late West Saxon.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *skakan, from Proto-Germanic *skakaną (“to swing, shake; to escape”).^[1][3] The strong verb survives in Old Norse skaka (“to shake”), Old Frisian skeka (“to run away”) and Old Saxon skakan (“to go away”);^[3] Old High German has only the derived Old High German undiskahhōn (“to drift on the waves”).^[3][4][5] Orel compares a Sanskrit verb for stirring and churning and a Welsh one for moving.^[3] Köbler sets it under the root Proto-Indo-European *skek- (“to jump, move”).^[4] Wiktionary notes that the Germanic ⟨k⟩ is unexpected for this root, and explains it by contamination or by back-formation from the iterative Proto-Germanic *skakkōną (“to shake”).^[1]

It is a verb of the sixth strong class, with the past ⟨sċōc⟩ and the participle ⟨sċacen⟩.^[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb first appears in the poems of the late tenth-century manuscripts: in Andreas in the Vercelli Book the fourteen worst of the people gewiton mid þy wæge in forwyrd sceacan under eorþan grund “went off with the wave, hurrying to destruction beneath the earth”.^[7][8][9]

Semantic evolution

In Old English the sense “to shake, quiver” is rare (a reed shaken by the wind in the Lindisfarne gloss); the verb usually expresses rapid movement.^[9] Of people it means “to flee, hurry off, depart”, as when a leader slipped away from the army at night in the Chronicle for 992; of things “to be flung, be shaken off”, as frost from the hair or arrows over a shield wall.^[9] In verse it is used of time, life and glory passing away, above all in the participle: Ðā wæs winter scacen “then winter was gone”.^[9][6] The transitive sense “to shake, brandish” is rarer, glossing Latin “concutio” in Ælfric's Grammar and “vibrabat” elsewhere.^[9][10][11]

It continued as Middle English shaken and became English shake, with the transitive and trembling senses now foremost.^[12]

Timeline

• s. x² – in forwyrd sceacan “to hurry to destruction” in Andreas in the Vercelli Book.^[7][8]
• s. x² – in Christ and Juliana in the Exeter Book.^[13][8]
• s. x/xi – scacen “gone, passed” of winter and of glory in the Beowulf manuscript.^[14][6]
• s. xi in. – in Ælfric's Lives of Saints (Martin).^[15][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) to shake, quiver.^[9][16]
2. (intransitive) to move quickly; to flee, hurry off, depart.^[9][6][17]
3. (intransitive) of time, life or thought, to pass, go by; past participle “gone”.^[9][6]
4. (transitive) to shake; to brandish a weapon; to set in quaking motion.^[9][10]

Descendants

• Middle English schaken (→ English shake; Middle Scots schake; Middle Scots schaik)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 5.69
3. ^ a b c d Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 332
4. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
5. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 271
6. ^ a b c d e 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. scacan
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. 704
8. ^ 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
9. ^ 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. 819
10. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 694
11. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. sceacan
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. 223
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
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. 282
16. ^ Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 167
17. ^ North, Richard; Bintley, Michael D. J., eds. (2016), Andreas: An Edition, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press (glossary), p. s.v. sceacan