*naudīg

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs *naudīg "necessary, needed; forced, compelled" for Proto-West Germanic.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *naudīgaz (“necessary; forced”),^[2] which Orel writes *nauđiʒaz and derives from *nauđiz.^[3] Wiktionary analyses the West Germanic adjective as the noun *naudi "need" with a suffix *-g,^[1] and EWA calls the Old High German word a derivative of the noun nōt with the continuation of the Proto-Germanic suffix *-ǥa-.^[4] Ringe and Taylor trace Proto-West Germanic *naudi "force, compulsion, necessity" to Proto-Germanic *nauþiz, *naudi-.^[5]

Morphology

An adjective, which Old High German has in two forms, nōtag and nōtīg.^[4]

Evidence

Only Old High German records the adjective: Old High German nōtag, from the beginning of the 9th century.^[6][4] Old Saxon has only the adverb Old Saxon nōdago (“by force”), twice in glosses of probably the 10th century.^[7][4] EWA compares Old English nēadigness (“obligation”), Middle Low German nȫdich and Old Norse nauðigr (“forced, unwilling”).^[4] Wiktionary gives only unattested Old English, Old Frisian, Old Saxon and Old Dutch forms of the adjective.^[1]

Meanings

1. necessary, needed^[1]
2. forced, compelled^[1]

Old High German used the adjective for "in distress", with nôtag werdan "to fall into distress",^[4] and also for "urgent" and "needy".^[6]

Derivatives

• *naudigōn "to compel, to force", which Wiktionary reconstructs;^[8] Orel derives Proto-Germanic *nauđiʒōjanan "to force, to compel" from the adjective and finds it in Old Norse, Middle Dutch and Middle High German.^[3]

Reflexes

• Old Saxon: nōdago (“by force (adverb)”)^[7]
• Old High German: nōtag (“in distress, forced, urgent, needy”)^[4][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *naudīg
2. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *naudīgaz
3. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 282
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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. nôtag
5. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 246
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. nōtag
7. ^ a b Tiefenbach, Heinrich (2010), Altsächsisches Handwörterbuch / A Concise Old Saxon Dictionary, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter, p. s.v. nôdago
8. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *naudigōn