singan

Forms

singan (strong class 3; third-person singular present singþ, past singular sang, past plural sungon)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *singwan, from Proto-Germanic *singwaną (“to sing”).^[1][2] The strong verb is found in all the old Germanic languages: Gothic 𐍃𐌹𐌲𐌲𐍅𐌰𐌽 (siggwan), Old Norse syngva, Old Frisian siunga, Old Saxon singan and Old High German singan.^[3][4][2] Ringe and Taylor list it with stincan as a verb whose West Germanic /w/ after the velar is lost in Old English.^[2]

Wiktionary and Köbler derive it from Proto-Indo-European *sengʷʰ- (“to recite, sing”).^[1][5] Seebold finds this starting point, a root meaning “to say”, not very certain, since the comparable words are isolated: Welsh dehongli (“to explain, interpret”), an Old Church Slavonic word for “he said”, and Ancient Greek ὀμφή (omphḗ, “voice of a god”).^[6] Orel compares the Greek noun with the Germanic noun *sangwaz “song”, the source of sang.^[7]

After the nasal the ⟨g⟩ was a stop, [ŋɡ].^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in the Vespasian Psalter gloss of the mid-ninth century: ðæt singe ðe wuldur min “that my glory may sing to you” (Psalm 29).^[9][10] In the Pastoral Care of 890×897 a harper touches all the strings with one hand ðy ðe he wile ðæt he anne song singen “because he wants them to sing one tune”.^[11][10]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller divide the senses by the singer.^[12] People sing, recite or compose in verse: Cædmon tells the man in his dream Ne con ic nan þing singan “I cannot sing anything” in the Old English Bede.^[12] Birds sing and the cock crows; and things sound or ring: harp strings, trumpets, and ring-mail in Beowulf.^[12][13] With an object it means to sing a song or recite a poem, a prayer or a charm, or to read aloud, and Toller's Supplement adds the playing of an instrument and the reciting of charms.^[12][14] In the laws it is used of the church: to sing the Pater Noster, the masses and the hours.^[15] It glosses Latin canere, cantare and psallere.^[5]

It lived on as Middle English syngen, now English sing.^[16][17]

Timeline

• s. ix med. – ðæt singe ðe wuldur min in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[9][10]
• 890×897 – harp strings that sing one tune, in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[11][10]
• s. x in. or xi¹ – Cædmon's Ne con ic nan þing singan in the Old English Bede (Tanner 10).^[18][12]
• s. x² – wrencum singe “I sing with melodies” in an Exeter Book riddle.^[19][1]
• s. x/xi – ring-mail that rings out, in the Beowulf manuscript.^[20][13]

Meanings

Verb

1. to sing, chant, of people.^[12][5]
2. to compose or relate in verse, narrate.^[12][21]
3. to sing, of birds; to crow, of a cock.^[12][5]
4. to sound, resound, ring, of things.^[12][13]
5. to sing a song, recite a poem, prayer or charm; to read aloud.^[12][14]
6. (church) to sing the services: the Pater Noster, masses and hours.^[15]

Word family

• ġesingan
• āsingan
• besingan
• undersingan
• lofsingende

Descendants

• Middle English syngen (→ English sing; Middle Scots sing; Middle Scots syng)^[1]

Related words

• sang
• sangere

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 215
3. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 324
4. ^ Seebold, Elmar (1970), Vergleichendes und etymologisches Wörterbuch der germanischen starken Verben, The Hague / Paris: Mouton, p. 392
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. singan
6. ^ Seebold, Elmar (1970), Vergleichendes und etymologisches Wörterbuch der germanischen starken Verben, The Hague / Paris: Mouton, p. 393
7. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 318
8. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 7.67
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. 329
10. ^ 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
11. ^ 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. 499
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 876
13. ^ a b c 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. singan
14. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 703
15. ^ a b Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 197
16. ^ 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)
17. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
18. ^ 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. 531
19. ^ 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
20. ^ 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
21. ^ Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 176