strican

Forms

strīcan (strong class 1; third-person singular present strīcþ, past singular strāc, past plural stricon)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *strīkan, from Proto-Germanic *strīkaną (“to stroke, to rub”).^[1][2] The strong verb is shared by Old Frisian strīka, Dutch strijken, Middle Low German strīken and Old High German strīhhan, beside the weak verb Old Norse strȳkva (“to flog”).^[2][3][4] Kroonen reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *stréig-e-, a word of the European languages, and compares Proto-Slavic *strigti (“to cut hair, shear”) and Latin stringō (“to skim, scratch”);^[2][3][4] Orel and Holthausen give the same comparisons.^[2][3][4] Köbler sets it under the root Proto-Indo-European *streig- (“stroke”), Pokorny 1028.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is rare: the DOE Corpus has 15 occurrences in 10 texts, glosses, medical texts and one poem, none of them in a text whose manuscript is dated in the record used here.^[6] The poem is the Meters of Boethius, where the sky that turns round the world each day strīceþ ymbūtan, moves round it.^[7] A canticle gloss has ic strice and hæle for Latin “percutiam et ego sanabo”, I strike and I heal.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller give three senses: to stroke, smooth, rub or wipe, as a hand passed over a surface or a stone wiped with a clean cloth; to make a stroke, in the derivatives bestrīcan and strica; and to go, move or run.^[7][8] Toller adds many passages in which a hand or finger is passed over a part of the body.^[8] Etymonline records the sense of going forward as still alive in English strike for heading towards a place.^[9]

The verb lived on as Middle English striken.^[10] The transitive sense “deal a blow”, the main one in English, developed in the early fourteenth century.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. to stroke, smooth, rub, wipe.^[7][5][11]
2. to make a stroke; to strike.^[7][8]
3. to go, move, run.^[7][11]

Word family

• bestrīcan
• ymbstrīcan

Descendants

• Middle English striken (→ English strike)^[1]

Related words

• strica
• strācian

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 485
3. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 382
4. ^ a b c Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 326
5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. strīcan
6. ^ Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
7. ^ a b c d e Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 929
8. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 713
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ 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)
11. ^ a b Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 185