wrigian

Forms

wrīġian (weak class 2; third-person singular present wrīġaþ, past singular wrīġode, past plural wrīġodon)^[1]

Etymology

It is probably inherited from Proto-Germanic *wrigōną (“to wriggle”).^[1][2] The same Germanic verb is continued by Old Frisian wrīgia (“to sway, walk unsteadily”) and Old High German rigōn (“to wreathe, bind together”).^[2][3] Wiktionary tentatively compares Low German wriggen.^[1]

Köbler traces the verb to the root Proto-Indo-European *wreyḱ- (“to turn, wrap, bind”) (Pokorny 1158), an extension of Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to turn, bend”).^[3][2] Holthausen sets it beside the Germanic words for "twisted, crooked" of the same root, the adjective behind English wry, and the verb behind wriggle, and compares Ancient Greek ῥοικός (rhoikós, “crooked”).^[4] Etymonline gives the same root and the same Greek comparison.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest dated record is in the Old English Boethius, in the manuscript Cotton Otho A. vi of the mid-tenth century: a bough pulled down to the earth sprincð he up & wrigað wið his gecyndes “springs up and turns back towards its nature” as soon as it is let go.^[6][7][8] The verse rendering of the same passage, Meter 13, repeats the phrase: Ælc gesceaft wrigaþ and higaþ wið his gecyndes “every creature turns and strives back towards its own nature”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The verb is rare, with seven occurrences in five texts of the corpus.^[7] Bosworth and Toller define it as "to turn, go, move", Sweet as "to strive, tend, go forward".^[8][9] In the Exeter Book riddle of the plough the ploughman behind it wrigaþ on wonge, pushes his way over the field.^[8][10]

Middle English kept the verb as wrien "to twist, turn aside", in Chaucer sche wriede fast awey; from it comes the English adjective wry, first of a neck or face twisted to one side.^[8][5]

Timeline

• s. x med. – wrigað wið his gecyndes “turns back towards its nature”, of a bent bough, in the Old English Boethius.^[6][7]
• s. x² – wrigaþ on wonge “pushes over the field”, of the ploughman, in the Exeter Book riddles.^[10][7][8]
• 1520s – the English adjective wry, from the Middle English verb.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. to turn, go, move, make one's way.^[8][3]
2. to tend towards, strive, press forward.^[9][11][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wrīgian
4. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 408
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ 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. 296
7. ^ 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
8. ^ 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. 1275
9. ^ a b Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 234
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. 223
11. ^ Nerthus: An Online Lexical Database of Old English, Universidad de La Rioja, nerthusproject.com (derivational paradigms, via the Nerthus Project's open data)