*agisōn

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs the weak verb *agisōn "to frighten",^[1] and de Vaan traces Middle Dutch eisen (“to be afraid”) to *agisōn-.^[2]

Etymology

It is a derivative from Proto-West Germanic *agisō (“terror”): EWA and Köbler refer Old High German egisōn to the noun egiso,^[3][4] and Ringe and Taylor reconstruct *agisō as an extension of *agi "fear".^[5] Wiktionary instead derives the verb from *agi with a suffix *-isōn.^[1]

Morphology

A weak verb of class II.^[4][6] The Old High German present participle was used as an adjective "terrible".^[4][3]

Evidence

Wiktionary gives the verb in Old English and Old High German, with no Old Saxon or Old Frisian form.^[1] Old High German has egisōn only in glosses and in Otfrid, beside the prefixed duruhegisōn in a gloss of the 9th century and iregisōn.^[3] In Old Dutch the verb is not recorded, though the noun egiso and the adverb egisliko "terribly" are, in the Wachtendonck Psalter of the 10th century.^[2] Middle Dutch has the verb only with palatalization of the g, as eisen, first recorded in Limburg in 1240.^[2]

Meanings

1. to frighten, to terrify^[1]

Old High German also used the verb for "to be startled, to fear",^[4] and Middle Dutch for "to be afraid".^[2]

Reflexes

• Old English: egesian (“to frighten, to terrify”)^[6][3]
• Old High German: egisōn (“to frighten, to fear, to be terrified”)^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *agisōn
2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2017), The Dawn of Dutch: Language Contact in the Western Low Countries before 1200, NOWELE Supplement Series 30, Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins, p. 136
3. ^ 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. *egisolîh
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. egisōn
5. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 237
6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. ėgesian