*liggjan

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs *liggjan.^[1] Ringe and Taylor write the Proto-West Germanic form phonetically as *[liggjan] and analyse it phonemically as */ligjan/.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *ligjaną (“to lie”),^[2] which Kroonen cites as *leg(j)an- and Orel as *leʒjanan.^[4][5] Its geminate comes from the West Germanic gemination of most consonants by an immediately following *j, a Proto-West Germanic change that affected scores of words and followed the loss of final *-ą and *-az.^[6][2] The change is usually written *Cj > *CCj, after the Old Saxon spellings, which are the most conservative.^[6]

Morphology

A strong verb of class V.^[7][8] EWA notes that the geminate caused by *j belongs only to the present, which is inflected like a weak verb of class I; the Old High German past is lag, lāgun, the past participle gilegan.^[8] Gothic has the verb without a j-present.^[5][9]

Evidence

The verb is attested in all the West Germanic languages: Old English liċġan, Old Frisian lidza, Old Saxon liggian and Old High German liggen, beside Old Norse liggja.^[2] In Old English the inherited geminate remained palatal, as did that of leċġan "to lay", and Old Frisian shows a very similar pattern.^[3] In Old High German the Franconian geminate is spelt differently in Upper German, and the verb is recorded in glosses from the end of the 8th or the beginning of the 9th century.^[8] Old Dutch has liggen in Williram's commentary of about 1100.^[10]

Meanings

1. to lie^[2][1]
2. to rest^[1][11]

Old Frisian also used the verb for "to be situated" of land, "to remain unatoned" and "to lie buried",^[12] Old Saxon for "to be laid up" and "to remain lying dead",^[13] and Old High German used the past participle for "related, near".^[8]

Derivatives

• *fraliggjan "to lie badly; to commit adultery", which Wiktionary reconstructs;^[14] Old English has the prefixed verb forliċġan.^[11]
• *laggjan "to lay", which Ringe and Taylor reconstruct with the same gemination, as *[laggjan] (= */lagjan/);^[2] Wiktionary derives its source Proto-Germanic *lagjaną from *ligjaną with the causative suffix.^[15]

Reflexes

• Old English: liċġan (“to lie, to rest, to remain, to extend, to flow”)^[11]
• Old Frisian: lidza (“to lie, to stay, to be situated”)^[12]
• Old Saxon: liggian (“to lie, to be situated, to be laid up”)^[13]
• Old Dutch: liggen (“to lie”)^[10]
• Old High German: liggen (“to lie, to be situated, to remain lying”)^[16]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *liggjan
2. ^ 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. 51
3. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 213
4. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 330
5. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 240
6. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 50
7. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. liggian
8. ^ a b c d 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. liggen
9. ^ Seebold, Elmar (1970), Vergleichendes und etymologisches Wörterbuch der germanischen starken Verben, The Hague / Paris: Mouton, p. s.v. leg-ja-
10. ^ a b Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org, p. s.v. liggen
11. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. licgan
12. ^ a b Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. lidza
13. ^ a b Tiefenbach, Heinrich (2010), Altsächsisches Handwörterbuch / A Concise Old Saxon Dictionary, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter, p. s.v. liggian
14. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *fraliggjan
15. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *lagjaną
16. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. liggen