*kamp

Reconstruction

Ringe and Taylor reconstruct *kamp "battle" for Proto-West Germanic,^[1] and Wiktionary has the same form.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin campus (“field, battlefield”), one of the Latin loanwords of Proto-West Germanic.^[1] EWA too derives the West Germanic words from the Latin noun, and holds that their development of meaning follows that of the Latin word.^[3]

Morphology

A masculine a-stem.^[1] Old English has the word as masculine and neuter.^[4]

Evidence

The word is attested in Old English camp and Old High German kampf,^[1] in Old Frisian komp, also spelled kamp,^[5] and in Old Saxon kamp.^[6] EWA dates the Old High German word from the 11th century, in glosses, and finds it in Old Dutch only in place names.^[3] Old Norse kapp (“zeal, contest”) was borrowed into North Germanic early enough to undergo the change of the cluster mp to pp, while the Scandinavian forms that keep the nasal are later loans from Middle Low German.^[3] Lombard has Lombardic camphio, a champion who fought a judicial duel on another's behalf.^[3]

Competing analyses

Ringe and Taylor take *kampijō "combat soldier", the source of Old English cempa, Old Saxon kempio and Old High German kempfo, for a separate loan of Latin campiō,^[1] and Köbler, who records camphio in a Latin-Lombard source of 643, takes it for a loan of the Latin word too.^[7] Wiktionary instead derives *kampijō from a verb *kampijan "to fight".^[8] EWA calls the Lombard word a derivative,^[3] and Boutkan and Siebinga report Holthausen's view that Old Frisian kampa (“fighter, champion”) comes from the Vulgar Latin word, recorded in the Lex Frisionum, and Wollmann's that it may be a later formation to the loan komp.^[9]

Meanings

1. battle^[1]
2. field, battlefield^[2]

EWA notes that Medieval Latin campus came to mean "judicial duel" only later, and that the older sense "field" survives in Old High German kampfwîg "battle in the field".^[3] Old Frisian used the word for a judicial duel, for the place of combat and for an enclosed piece of land,^[10] and Old Saxon for a fight and for a parcel of cultivated land.^[6]

Derivatives

• *kampōn "to fight", which Wiktionary reconstructs;^[11] Köbler records the weak verb Old English campian (“to fight”), beside Old Frisian kampia.^[12]

Reflexes

• Old English: camp (“field, battle, strife”)^[13]
• Old Frisian: komp (“judicial duel, place of combat; enclosed piece of land”)^[10]
• Old Saxon: kamp (“fight, parcel of cultivated land”)^[6]
• Old High German: kampf (“single combat, duel”)^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 135
2. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *kamp
3. ^ a b c d e f g Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. s.v. kampf
4. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. camp
5. ^ Boutkan, Dirk; Siebinga, Sjoerd Michiel (2005), Old Frisian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 1, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. komp
6. ^ a b c Tiefenbach, Heinrich (2010), Altsächsisches Handwörterbuch / A Concise Old Saxon Dictionary, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter, p. s.v. kamp
7. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. camphio
8. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *kampijō
9. ^ Boutkan, Dirk; Siebinga, Sjoerd Michiel (2005), Old Frisian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 1, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. kampa
10. ^ a b Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. komp
11. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *kampōn
12. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. campian
13. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. camp