togian

Forms

togian (weak class 2; third-person singular present togaþ, past singular togode, past plural togodon)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *togōn, from Proto-Germanic *tugōną (“to pull, tow”).^[1] The same verb is Old Norse toga, Old Frisian togia, Middle Low German togen and Old High German zogōn.^[2][3][4]

It belongs with the strong verb tēon (“to draw”), from Proto-Germanic *teuhaną, built on the zero grade of its root.^[2][3][5] Kroonen finds the strong verb formally identical to Latin dūcō (“to lead”), and Köbler and Etymonline trace both verbs to Proto-Indo-European *dewk- (“to pull, lead”).^[6][3][5] Wiktionary takes the Germanic verb either as a variant of *tukkōną or as a derivative in *-ōną of *tugiz (“a pull”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is rare: its only instance in the DOE Corpus, which Bosworth–Toller also quotes, is in an Old English life of St Margaret (Assmann's homily 15), where her enemies seize the virgin and út of ðære byrig ungerǽdelíce hí togoden "dragged her roughly out of the city".^[7][8]

Semantic evolution

Old English togian meant "to drag, pull".^[7][3] Its Middle English successor is the source of English tow, according to Etymonline and Wiktionary.^[5][1] MED derives tuggen "to tug" from the past forms tugon and togen of tēon, with a comparison to togian.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. to drag, pull, tug.^[7][3]

Word family

• fortogian

Descendants

• Middle English toȝen (→ English tow; Scots tow; Scots toll)^[1]
• Middle English tuggen (→ English tug; Scots tug)^[1]

Related words

• tēon

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 350
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. togian
4. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 515
7. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 999
8. ^ Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
9. ^ 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)