*kampijan

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs the verb *kampijan "to battle, to campaign".^[1] Ringe and Taylor print the same spelling for a different word, the plural "warriors" of the n-stem *kampijō, which became the Old English plural cempan.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Proto-West Germanic *kamp (“field, battle”) + *-jan, as Wiktionary has it.^[1] Ringe and Taylor reconstruct *kamp "battle", a masculine a-stem, as a loan from Latin campus (“field, battlefield”).^[3] Green explains the sense "combat, contest" of Old High German kamph and Old English camp from Latin campus as a field or piece of ground staked out for training and combat,^[4] and notes that the judicial combat was called campus in Latin and kamph in the vernacular.^[5] EWA adds that Medieval Latin used campus for the judicial duel only later, and that the Germanic sense development depends on the Latin one.^[6]

Morphology

A weak verb of class I.^[7][8]

Evidence

The verb is attested as Old English cempan,^[9] Old Frisian kempa or kampa^[10] and Old High German kempfen, glossing Latin militō about 800.^[11] Wiktionary gives only reconstructed forms for Old Saxon and Old Dutch.^[1] Old Frisian used the verb for fighting a duel as a judicial ordeal, and for providing a champion for one.^[10]

Competing analyses

Wiktionary derives *kampijō "combat soldier" from this verb,^[12] while Ringe and Taylor take *kampijō for a separate loan from Latin campiō (“combat soldier”),^[3] and Green derives Old High German kempho and Old English cempa from Latin campio, used above all of gladiatorial single combat.^[4] Boutkan reports Holthausen's derivation of the Old Frisian noun kampa "fighter, champion" from Vulgar Latin campio, which occurs in the Lex Frisionum.^[13]

Meanings

1. to battle, to campaign^[1]

Old English and Old High German used the verb for "to fight",^[9][8] and Old High German also for "to serve as a fighter".^[11]

Reflexes

• Old English: cempan (“to fight”)^[9]
• Old Frisian: kempa (“to fight, to fight a judicial duel”)^[10]
• Old High German: kempfen (“to fight, to serve as a fighter”)^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *kampijan
2. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 229
3. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 135
4. ^ a b Green, D. H. (1998), Language and History in the Early Germanic World, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 234
5. ^ Green, D. H. (1998), Language and History in the Early Germanic World, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 74
6. ^ 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
7. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altfriesisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. kampa
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. kempfan
9. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. cempan
10. ^ a b c Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. kempa
11. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. kempfen
12. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *kampijō
13. ^ Boutkan, Dirk; Siebinga, Sjoerd Michiel (2005), Old Frisian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 1, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. kampa