slæc

Forms

slæc^[1] Also sleac and slec.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *slak, from Proto-Germanic *slakaz (“slack”).^[1][3] Its cognates are Old Norse slakr, Old Saxon slak (“slack, cowardly”) and Old High German slah.^[3][4] Heidermanns finds the adjective only in North and West Germanic.^[5]

Kroonen calls it an o-grade adjective to a root Proto-Indo-European *sleg- that is only marginally attested, and compares Ancient Greek λαγαρός (lagarós, “slack, thin”) and, with doubt, Old Irish lacc (“slack”).^[3] Holthausen adds Latin laxus (“loose”) and langueō (“to be faint”).^[6] Köbler refers it to the same root, which he sets up with a long vowel and the meaning “slack, faint”.^[7] Orel sets it up as *slakwaz and derives it from a verb meaning to slacken.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adjective is first recorded in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20, 890×897), where the ruler should be “ne to stræc on ðære lare, ne to slæc on ðære mildheortnesse” (“neither too strict in his teaching nor too slack in his mercy”).^[9][10] It renders Latin “remissa” there, of mercy that is lax.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller divide the senses between persons and things.^[2] Of persons it means idle and lazy, glossing Latin “piger”, “reses” and “lentus”, then careless or remiss in duty, and in glosses also weak or ill, rendering “aeger”.^[2][7] Ælfric's homilies have the wicked and slothful servant of the parable, yfela þeowa and sleac.^[2] Of things it is used of slow, gentle movement, of a sleep that makes one sluggish, of service done without effort, and of a lax way of life.^[2]

Middle English slak meant indolent.^[11] From about 1300 it was also used of things that are loose and not taut,^[11] and it survives as English slack.^[11]

Timeline

• 890×897 – ne to slæc on ðære mildheortnesse “nor too slack in mercy” in the Pastoral Care.^[9][10]
• c. 1300 – Middle English slak first used of things that are loose.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. lazy, slothful, inactive.^[2][7]
2. careless, remiss, lax in duty or conduct.^[2]
3. weak, languid, ill.^[2][7]
4. of movement, slow, gentle.^[2]

Word family

• slæcnes
• unslæc
• slacian
• slæccan

Descendants

• Middle English slak (→ English slack; Scots slak)^[1]

Usage notes

Bosworth and Toller count the sleac of Beowulf (line 2187) as this word, but Klaeber treats slēac “slow, slothful” as a different word, not related to slæc.^[2][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 880
3. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 452
4. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
5. ^ Heidermanns, Frank (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der germanischen Primäradjektive, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter, p. 514
6. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 296
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. slæc
8. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 349
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. 499
10. ^ a b 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 c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ 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. slēac