standan

Forms

standan (strong class 6; third-person singular present stent, past singular stōd, past plural stōdon)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *standan, from Proto-Germanic *standaną (“to stand”).^[1][2] The verb is found in all the old Germanic languages: Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌰𐌽 (standan), Old Norse standa, Old Frisian stonda, Old Saxon standan and Old High German stantan.^[3][4][2]

Orel takes the Germanic present to be a secondary formation with a nasal, made beside the root verb Proto-Germanic *stēnan.^[3] Kroonen describes that verb, *stēn-, as a suppletive partner of the verb with the nasal; it survives in Old Frisian stān and Dutch staan, among others.^[5] Wiktionary's Proto-Germanic page derives the past stem from a pre-Germanic extended form of the root, with the nasal present built on it.^[1] Köbler, Holthausen and Wiktionary trace the root to Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand”), the root of Latin stō (“to stand”) and Ancient Greek ἵστημι (hístēmi, “to make stand”).^[2][4][1]

Before a nasal the vowel was nasalised in pre-Old English, so the word is written both standan and stondan, as Old Frisian has stonda.^[6] The past is stōd, with the participle standen; it is the only class VI verb with a nasal infix in the present, and because the present already had the voiced alternant of Verner's law, the levelling of that alternation removed it entirely.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is first recorded in the Vespasian Psalter, whose Mercian interlinear gloss was added in the middle of the ninth century: at Psalm 17 the gloss has ne hie magun stondan “nor can they stand”, of enemies struck down.^[9][10] In the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20, 890×897) the teacher who rises to heavenly things bið gesewen standende on ðam hrofe godcundra ðinga “is seen standing on the roof of divine things”.^[11][10]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller order the senses by attitude, position and time: a person or thing standing upright, then a person or thing placed somewhere (a town by the sea, a star in the sky), then a day that stands near.^[12] From these come figurative uses of resistance, help and representation, and in Toller's Supplement the sense of matter that stands in a book, a matter that rests with someone, and a whole that consists of its parts.^[12][13] Sweet adds the legal sense of a law that stands, is valid and in force, and the sense of something that starts from a place, as fear or a smell that comes from someone.^[14] In Beowulf the verb is used with subjects such as light and terror in the sense “arise, shine forth”.^[15]

It glosses Latin “stare”, “instare”, “persistere” and “restare”.^[2] The verb lived on as Middle English stonden, now English stand.^[16][17]

Timeline

• s. ix med. – ne hie magun stondan “nor can they stand” in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[9][10]
• 890×897 – standende “standing” in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[11][10]
• 10th century – wela wēste stondeð “wealth stands empty” in The Wanderer.^[1]
• s. x/xi – stōd of light and terror that arise, in the Beowulf manuscript.^[18][15]

Meanings

Verb

1. to stand, to be upright, of persons and things.^[12][2]
2. to be placed, to be situated.^[12]
3. to stand firm, to resist; to stand by, help.^[12]
4. to remain, last; to be valid, be in force (of laws).^[14]
5. to consist (of), with on.^[14][13]
6. to be written (in a book).^[13]
7. (poetic) to arise, issue, shine forth (of light, fear).^[15]

Word family

• ætstandan
• āstandan
• bestandan
• forestandan
• forstandan
• ġestandan
• oferstandan
• understandan
• wiþstandan
• ymbstandan

Descendants

• Middle English stonden (→ English stand; Middle Scots stand)^[1]

Related words

• stede
• staþol
• stōl

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. standan
3. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 371
4. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 317
5. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 477
6. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 144
7. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 343
8. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 348
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 Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 910
13. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 710
14. ^ a b c Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 182
15. ^ 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. standan
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. 344