scrincan

Forms

sċrincan (strong class 3; third-person singular present sċrincþ, past singular sċranc, past plural sċruncon)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *skrinkwaną (“to shrink, shrivel”).^[1][2] Holthausen sets beside it Middle Dutch schrinken (with a question mark), Swedish skrynka (“to wrinkle”) and Norwegian and Old Norse nouns for a wrinkle or a wrinkled body;^[3][4] Etymonline names the same Dutch and Swedish forms.^[3][4]

The further origin is uncertain.^[1] Köbler and Etymonline derive it from Proto-Indo-European *sker- (“to shrink, turn, bend”) (Pokorny 933).^[2][4] Wiktionary reconstructs a pre-form *skringʷ- on that root and compares Polish kurczyć and Lithuanian skręsti (“to form a crust”).^[1]

In ⟨scr⟩ the cluster */sk/ became palatal even though a consonant followed, as the later English shrink shows.^[5] The verb belongs to the third strong class.^[1][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Bald's Leechbook (Royal 12 D. xvii, mid-tenth century), in the heading of remedies for a sinew that contracts: gif sin scrince “if a sinew shrinks”, and gif monnes fot to hommum scrimme & scrince “if a man's foot is drawn up and shrinks towards the hams”.^[7][8]

Semantic evolution

The simplex is rare, with seven occurrences in the corpus, mostly in medical texts.^[8] The Old English Herbarium (eleventh century) says pennyroyal blooms brightest when other plants scrincaþ & weorniað “shrivel and wither”.^[9][8] The prefixed verbs were more common: forsċrincan for the withering seed, fig tree and hand of the Gospels, and ġesċrincan for sinews contracting from cold in Orosius.^[10][6]

Etymonline traces English shrink to the verb, once with a causative partner, Middle English shrench.^[4]

Timeline

• s. x med. – gif sin scrince “if a sinew shrinks” in Bald's Leechbook.^[7][8]
• s. xi¹ or xi med. – oþre wyrta scrincaþ “other plants shrivel” in the Old English Herbarium.^[9][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. to shrink, contract.^[2][1]
2. to shrivel up, wither, pine away.^[2][11]

Word family

• āsċrincan
• forsċrincan
• ġesċrincan
• unāsċruncen

Descendants

• Middle English schrynken (→ English shrink; Middle Scots schrink; Middle Scots schrynk)^[1]

Related words

• sċrenċan

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. scrincan
3. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 283
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 7.37
6. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 437
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. 412
8. ^ a b c d e 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 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. 347
10. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 316
11. ^ Nerthus: An Online Lexical Database of Old English, Universidad de La Rioja, nerthusproject.com (derivational paradigms, via the Nerthus Project's open data)