sceacga

Forms

sċeacga m (weak; genitive singular sċeacgan, nominative plural sċeacgan)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *skaggō.^[1] Holthausen connects it with sċeaga (“copse, underwood”), which he places in a group with Old Norse skagi (“point, cape”), Old Norse skaga (“to jut out”) and Old Norse skegg (“beard”).^[2] Köbler likewise refers it to the noun Proto-Germanic *skaggja (“beard, stem of a ship”) and a root Proto-Indo-European *skek- (“to move, shake”) (Pokorny 922).^[3] Bosworth and Toller compare the same Norse word and Danish skæg (“beard”).^[4] Etymonline reconstructs Proto-Germanic *skagjan and sees a common sense “jutting out” with Old High German scahho (“promontory”).^[5]

Fulk names it among the few Germanic words with a voiced double consonant, beside frogga and docga, which Kluge explained as analogical.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is recorded once in the Dictionary of Old English Corpus, in a glossary.^[7] There feax and sceacga gloss Latin coma, the hair of the head.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller define it as the hair of the head and compare English “shaggy”.^[4] Holthausen and Köbler give “rough hair, wool”.^[2][3] Etymonline takes English shag, recorded from the 1590s for a cloth with a nap, as perhaps from it, but notes that the word seems missing in Middle English.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. rough hair, wool.^[2][3][1]
2. the hair of the head.^[4][1]

Descendants

• Middle English *schagge (→ English shag; Middle Scots schagg; Middle Scots schage)^[1]

Related words

• sċeaga

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 272
3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. sceacga
4. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 820
5. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Fulk, R. D. (2018), A Comparative Grammar of the Early Germanic Languages, Studies in Germanic Linguistics 3, Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins, p. § 6.9
7. ^ Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project