stocc

Forms

stocc m (strong a-stem; genitive singular stocces, nominative plural stoccas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *stokk, from Proto-Germanic *stukkaz (“stick, trunk”).^[1][2][3] The Proto-Germanic noun is continued in Old Norse stokkr, Old Frisian stok, Old Saxon stokk and Old High German stoc.^[2][3] Heidermanns notes that Old Frisian also made an adjective “stiff” from the noun.^[4]

Kroonen derives the noun from the strong verb Proto-Germanic *stekaną (“to stab, sting”), as an old participle-like formation, and explains its zero-grade ⟨u⟩ as secondary; the same verb gave styċċe “piece”.^[2] Orel instead compares a Sanskrit word for a tuft of wool or hair and notes the irregular geminate.^[3] Köbler connects it with Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewg- (“to push, strike”), a root that Wiktionary gives as an alternative to the derivation from the verb.^[5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first found in charter bounds.^[6] A grant of Æthelberht of Wessex and Kent at Bromley, dated 862, runs to ðam won stocce ðanne fram ðam won stocce “to the crooked stump, then from the crooked stump”; its single sheet, of the later ninth century, is held by some to be the original or a contemporary copy and by others to be a later imitation.^[6][7] An original charter of Æthelstan of 939, for Meopham in Kent, has oþ þone calewan stoc “as far as the bare stump”.^[8][7]

Semantic evolution

The core sense is a stump or trunk of a tree, a log, and a stake or post; stumps and posts often serve as boundary marks in charters, and Middendorff reads stocc in field names as the remains of a cleared wood.^[9][10] In Ælfric's Lives of Saints it is the stake on which King Oswald's head was set, and in the Old English Deuteronomy the wooden idols served with stones (stoccum and stanum).^[9][7] Toller's Supplement adds the sense of a post or block to which a prisoner's legs were fastened, the stocks.^[11] In the Lindisfarne gloss it renders Latin tuba, perhaps a wooden trumpet.^[9][12]

The word lived on as Middle English stok, where it still meant a tree trunk or stump, and as English stock.^[13][14]

Timeline

• 862 – to ðam won stocce “to the crooked stump” in the bounds of S 331, on a single sheet of disputed date.^[6][7]
• 939 – oþ þone calewan stoc “as far as the bare stump” in an original charter of Æthelstan.^[8][7]
• s. x³/⁴ – stocc for Latin tuba in the Lindisfarne Gospels gloss.^[15][12]
• s. xi in. – the stake that held Oswald's head, in Ælfric's Lives of Saints.^[16][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. a stump, trunk or log.^[9][5]
2. a stake, post, often as a boundary mark.^[9][17]
3. a post to which a prisoner is fastened, the stocks.^[11]
4. (glosses) a trumpet, perhaps of wood, for Latin tuba.^[9][12]

Word family

• hēafodstocc
• imbstocc
• pīlstocc

Descendants

• Middle English stok (→ English stock)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 487
3. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 383
4. ^ Heidermanns, Frank (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der germanischen Primäradjektive, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter, p. 563
5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. stocc
6. ^ a b c The Electronic Sawyer: Online Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Charters, revised ed. by S. E. Kelly and R. Rushforth, King's College London / University of Cambridge, esawyer.lib.cam.ac.uk, p. S 331
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b The Electronic Sawyer: Online Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Charters, revised ed. by S. E. Kelly and R. Rushforth, King's College London / University of Cambridge, esawyer.lib.cam.ac.uk, p. S 447
9. ^ a b c d e f g Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 923
10. ^ Middendorff, H. (1902), Altenglisches Flurnamenbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 126
11. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 712
12. ^ a b c Cook, Albert S. (1894), A Glossary of the Old Northumbrian Gospels, Halle: Niemeyer, p. s.v. stocc
13. ^ 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)
14. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
15. ^ 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. 291
16. ^ 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. 282
17. ^ Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 322