wæccan

Forms

wæċċan (third-person singular present wæċeþ, past singular wæhte, past plural wæhton)^[1]

Etymology

Wiktionary takes it as inherited from Proto-West Germanic *wakkjan, from Proto-Germanic *wakjaną (“to awaken”), so that it is a doublet of weċċan “to wake someone”.^[1] That verb is shared by Gothic 𐌿𐍃𐍅𐌰𐌺𐌾𐌰𐌽 (uswakjan), Old Norse vekja, Old Saxon wekkian and Old High German wecken.^[2][3]

Hogg and Fulk instead treat Northumbrian ⟨wæċċa⟩ and poetic ⟨wæċċende⟩ as forms of the third-class weak verb wacian “keep vigil”, comparing Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌺𐌰𐌽 (wakan) and Old High German wahhēn.^[4] Köbler also derives it from the intransitive Germanic verb, Etymonline calls it essentially the same word as that verb, and Holthausen refers to both.^[5][6][7] In the Lindisfarne gloss the forms of the causative are confused with it.^[8] Hogg cites Northumbrian ⟨wæċċa⟩ among the verbs with a palatalised double consonant whose outcome is English “watch”.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the present participle in the Old English Bede, in a manuscript of the early tenth or the early eleventh century: the soul should consider from what root the stain came, þæt he wæccende þohte “what he thought while awake”.^[10][11]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller observe that the full verb occurs only in the Northumbrian glosses, while elsewhere only the present participle wæccende “awake, watchful” is found, wacian doing the work of the verb.^[12] The Lindisfarne and Rushworth glosses render Latin “vigilate” with wæccaþ and wæccas.^[12][5] In verse the participle occurs in Beowulf, Judith, Exodus and Juliana.^[11]

It continued as Middle English wacchen “to be awake, keep vigil” and English watch; the senses “be vigilant”, “guard” and “observe” were added in Middle English.^[13][7]

Timeline

• s. x in. or xi¹ – wæccende “awake” in the Old English Bede.^[10][11]
• s. x² – wæccende in the Vercelli homilies.^[14][11]
• s. x³/⁴ – wæccas for Latin “vigilate” in the Lindisfarne Gospels gloss.^[15][12]
• s. x/xi – the participle in Beowulf and Judith.^[16][11]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) to be or stay awake; to watch, keep vigil.^[12][5][1]

Word family

• ġewæccan

Descendants

• Middle English wacchen (→ English watch; Scots watch)^[1]

Related words

• wacian
• weċċan
• wæċċe
• wacol
• wacu

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 568
3. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 442
4. ^ Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 6.130
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wæccan
6. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 378
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 6.100
9. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 7.16
10. ^ 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. 531
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 1149
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. ^ 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. 704
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. 344