*skrīban

Reconstruction

Ringe and Taylor reconstruct *skrīban for Proto-West Germanic,^[1] and Wiktionary has the same form.^[2] De Vaan also writes West Germanic *skrīban as the source of Dutch schrijven.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin scrībō (“to write”).^[1][4] Ringe and Taylor count it among the few verbs that could have been borrowed as early as Proto-West Germanic, and call it the only Germanic strong verb likely to have been borrowed from a non-Germanic language.^[1] Holthausen and Berr also derive the verb from Latin.^[5][6] Wiktionary sets up the loan one stage earlier, in Proto-Germanic, *skrībaną.^[2]

Morphology

A strong verb of class I, with the past third singular *skraib, third plural *skribun and past participle *skriban.^[1] Ringe and Taylor note that putting a loanword among the strong verbs does not prove that the class was still fully productive, since sporadic shifts from weak to strong inflection are attested throughout the recorded history of the languages.^[1] Berr finds it striking that a borrowing should be a strong verb in all the Germanic languages.^[6]

Evidence

The verb is attested in all the West Germanic languages: Old English sċrīfan "to prescribe", Old Frisian skrīva, Old Saxon skrīƀan and Old High German skrīban.^[1] Old High German has it from the end of the 8th century, in the Abrogans and other glosses,^[4] and Old Saxon in the Heliand.^[7] Old Dutch has the past participle gescriuona in the Old Low Franconian psalms of the 10th century, and the verb in Williram's commentary of 1100 and the Middle Franconian Rhyme Bible.^[8] It replaced the inherited verb for writing, Proto-Germanic *u̯rei̯te/a-, everywhere except in English.^[4] Ringe and Taylor put the shift of meaning in Old English down to *wrītan "to scratch, to engrave" having become the usual verb for "write" there, a process that began in the other West Germanic languages but was not completed.^[1]

Competing analyses

EWA leaves open whether the Latin verb was borrowed once or twice, which turns on whether the English sense "to ordain, to decree" comes from an older layer of borrowing or is a later development; the Old Saxon compound biskrīƀan (“to grasp, to recognize, to repent”) also departs from "write".^[4] Because the verb is strong and has ablauting derivatives, Schröder, de Vries and Trier among others considered an inherited Proto-Germanic verb *skrei̯ƀe/a- whose meaning was influenced by Latin, as EWA reports.^[4] EWA itself holds that the meanings of the Germanic words speak against this.^[4] Orel likewise thinks the verb was hardly borrowed, only influenced in meaning by Latin, and of unknown origin.^[9] Tarsi, as EWA reports, assumes a single very early borrowing in the 1st century, which would explain the strong inflection, the English sense, and the partly weak inflection in North Germanic, which took the verb much later.^[4] EWA leaves open whether the North Germanic verbs were all borrowed from Old Saxon or Middle Low German.^[4]

Meanings

1. to write^[1][2]

Old English used the verb for "to prescribe, to decree, to assign, to impose" and "to hear confession",^[5] and Old Frisian also for "to record in a register" and "to impose a church penance".^[10]

Derivatives

• Orel derives Proto-Germanic *skriftiz (“writing”) from the verb, the source of Old English scrift (“penalty, penance”), Old Frisian skrift (“writing”) and Old High German scrift.^[9]

Reflexes

• Old English: sċrīfan (“to prescribe, to decree, to assign, to impose, to hear confession”)^[5]
• Old Frisian: skrīva (“to write, to record, to impose a church penance”)^[10]
• Old Saxon: skrīƀan (“to write”)^[7]
• Old Dutch: skrīvan (“to write”)^[8]
• Old High German: skrīban (“to write, to describe, to record”)^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 137
2. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *skrīban
3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2018), Historical Development of Dutch: Phonology & Morphology, Dialects & Stages, course reader, Leiden Summer School in Languages and Linguistics
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. skrîban
5. ^ a b c Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. scrīfan
6. ^ a b Berr, Samuel (1971), An Etymological Glossary to the Old Saxon Heliand, Berne / Frankfurt: Herbert Lang, p. 362
7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. skrīvan
8. ^ a b Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org, p. s.v. skrīvan
9. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 344
10. ^ a b Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. skrīva