wrecca

Forms

wreċċa m (weak; genitive singular wreċċan, nominative plural wreċċan)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *wrakkjō, from Proto-Germanic *wrakjô (“exile, persecuted person”).^[1][2] Kroonen describes it as a noun of the jan-stem type made directly to the strong verb *wrekaną (“to pursue”), the source of Old English wrecan.^[3] Its cognates are Old Saxon wrekkio (“foreign warrior, stranger, exile”) and Old High German recko (“fugitive, hero”), whence German Recke (“champion”).^[3][4][5]

Kroonen suggests that the word first meant an avenger, someone who goes into unknown land, and that both the German sense “champion” and the English sense “exile” grew from that.^[3] Köbler connects it with the root Proto-Indo-European *werǵ- (“to push, drive, pursue”).^[2]

The doubled consonant is the West Germanic gemination before /j/, found in jan-stems such as this one.^[6] The vowel of wræċċa is the i-umlaut of /æ/ kept from related forms such as wracu, while wreċċa shows the regular /e/.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest dated record is in the Pastoral Care, in the Hatton manuscript of 890×897, where it renders the Latin “infirmus quisque”: & nu fandiað swelce wræccan & teoð to, woldon underfon ðone weorðscipe “and now such wretches try and press forward, wanting to receive the honour”.^[8][9][10] The Parker Chronicle, in a manuscript of about 900, has the sense of exile in the annal for 722: Aldbryht wræccea gewat on Suþrige “Ealdberht the exile went into Surrey”.^[11][9]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller give the main sense as one driven from his own country, an exile, stranger or pilgrim, and in the glosses the word renders Latin “exsul”, “extorris”, “advena” and “peregrinus”.^[10][12][2] A charter calls a hermit Godes wræcca, God's exile, and the poets use it of the fallen angels and of Cain.^[10] In Beowulf it describes a wandering hero, and Klaeber glosses it “exile, adventurer, hero”.^[4]

Beside these, Old English already has the sense of a wicked person (the devil in Juliana) and of a miserable, wretched creature (the Pastoral Care, the Boethius).^[10] Only this last sense lived on in Middle English wrecche, now English wretch, while the German word came to mean a hero.^[13][14]

Timeline

• 890×897 – swelce wræccan “such wretches” in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[8][9]
• s. ix/x – Aldbryht wræccea “Ealdberht the exile” in the Parker Chronicle, annal 722.^[11][9]
• s. x med. – the speaker calls himself wrecca, a wretch who now sings in sorrow, in the Old English Boethius.^[15][10]
• s. x² – the exile's paths (wræccan lastum) in The Seafarer of the Exeter Book.^[16][1]
• s. x/xi – wreccena mærost “most famous of adventurers” in the Beowulf manuscript.^[17][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. an exile, one driven from his country; a stranger, pilgrim.^[10][2]
2. (poetic) an adventurer, a wandering hero.^[4]
3. a wicked person.^[10]
4. a wretch, a miserable or feeble creature.^[10]

Word family

• eardwreċċa

Descendants

• Middle English wrecche (→ English wretch; Scots wratch; Scots wretch)^[1]

Related words

• wrecan
• wracu

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wrecca
3. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 594
4. ^ a b c d 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. wreċċa
5. ^ Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de
6. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 4.11
7. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 5.79
8. ^ 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
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b c d e f g h Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 1273
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. 83
12. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 750
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. 296
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. 223
17. ^ 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