*Frījā dag

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs *Frījā dag "Friday".^[1] Ringe and Taylor reconstruct its first part, the genitive *Frījā, from Old English Frīġedæġ and Old High German Frīatag.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Proto-West Germanic *Frījā (“Frija's”) + *dag (“day”).^[1][2] EWA dates the name to the 4th century, modelled on Late Latin Veneris diēs, which itself translates the Greek name of the day.^[3] Its first part is the name of the goddess, Old High German Friia, whose Old Norse counterpart is the wife of Odin; her role was comparable with that of the Roman goddess of love.^[3] Ringe and Taylor trace *Frījā to the Proto-Germanic genitive singular *Frijjōz "of the goddess of marriage", Old Norse Friggjar.^[2] Where Gothic and Old Norse turned the geminate *jj into a stop, West Germanic treated its first part like the second element of a diphthong, and *ijj was reanalysed as *īj;^[4] Ringe and Taylor take this to have happened only once, at the Proto-West Germanic stage.^[2]

Morphology

A masculine a-stem.^[5][3]

Evidence

The name is attested as Old English Frīgedæg,^[5] Old Frisian frīadei, also frīendei and frēdei,^[6] and Old High German frīatag, from the 9th century, in Tatian, Otfrid and glosses.^[3] EWA calls it the common Germanic name of the sixth day of the week, but takes Old Norse frjádagr for a loan from West Germanic, probably from Old Frisian or Old English, because of its form.^[3] In Bavarian the day was instead called pferintag, a loan from Greek through Gothic.^[3] Wiktionary gives the Old Saxon form only as a reconstruction.^[1]

Meanings

1. Friday^[1][2]

Old High German also used the word for the day of preparation before the Sabbath.^[7]

Reflexes

• Old English: Frīgedæg (“Friday”)^[5]
• Old Frisian: frīadei (“Friday”)^[6]
• Old High German: frīatag (“Friday”)^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *Frījā dag
2. ^ a b c d e Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 66
3. ^ a b c d e f 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. frîjatag
4. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 65–66
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. frīgedæg
6. ^ a b Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. frīadei
7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. frīatag