*saggjan

Reconstruction

Ringe and Taylor reconstruct *saggjan for Proto-West Germanic,^[1] and Wiktionary has the same form.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *sagjaną (“to say”),^[1][3] which Kroonen cites by its stem *sagjan- and Orel as *saʒjanan.^[3][4] The geminate comes from the gemination of most consonants by a following *j, a Proto-West Germanic change that followed the loss of final *-ą and *-az.^[5] Ringe and Taylor write the verb *saggjan but take it to be underlyingly */sagjan/.^[6] Where no *j followed, the stem had a single consonant: the present second and third singular were *sagēs, *sagēþ, continuing Proto-Northwest Germanic forms such as *sagaiþi "(s)he says", and the past stem was *sagd-.^[7][8]

Morphology

A weak verb of class III.^[9][10] Ringe and Taylor reconstruct for Proto-West Germanic a small relic class of statives whose present stem alternated between *-ja- and *-ē- (from *-ai-) and whose past stem had no vowel between the root and the suffix; in the northern West Germanic dialects it had three members, "have", "say" and "live".^[11] Their Proto-West Germanic paradigm has the infinitive *saggjan, the inflected infinitive *saggjannjē, the present participle *saggjandī, the present indicative *saggju, *sagēs, *sagēþ, plural *saggjum, *sagēþ, *saggjanþ, the present subjunctive *saggjē, *saggjēs, plural *saggjēm, *saggjēþ, *saggjēn, the imperative *sagē, *sagēþ, and the past indicative *sagdā, *sagdēs or *-dōs, *sagdē or *-dā, plural *sagdum, *sagdud, *sagdun.^[7] When the other class III verbs remodelled their stem vowel in at least part of the northern dialect continuum, the very common verbs *habbjan, *saggjan and *libbjan were not affected.^[6] In Old High German the ⟨-ē-⟩ of the present was levelled through the paradigm, and the forms of a class I verb seggen are much rarer.^[12][13]

Evidence

Ringe and Taylor base the geminate form on Old Frisian sedza and Old Saxon seggian.^[1] It is also implied by Bavarian Old High German present forms such as segis and segit, and by the past ⟨saghida⟩ of Isidor, which may be West Franconian.^[1] Old English seċġan continues it through *sæġġąn.^[1] EWA records Old High German sagēn from the end of the 8th century,^[13] and Köbler records the Old Saxon verb in the Heliand of about 830.^[10] In Old Dutch, ONW has sagon in Williram's commentary of about 1100 and in the Middle Franconian Rhyme Bible.^[14] De Vaan lists *saggjan with Old Frisian sedza /sɛdza/ among his examples of the palatalization of velar consonants in Old Frisian.^[15]

Competing analyses

EWA reports a dispute over whether the Proto-Germanic verb was at first a weak verb of class I, as LIV² holds, or of class III, as Lühr holds.^[13] The parallel formation of Lithuanian sakýti (“to say”) would favour class I, and the parallel development of "say" and "have" in the separate languages would favour class III.^[13] An original class I verb would leave its shift into class III to be explained, usually by the influence of the antonym *þaǥai̯- "to be silent", which EWA finds possible but not provable; it allows that the two formations may have existed side by side.^[13]

Meanings

1. to say^[1][2]

Old English also used the verb for "to tell, to relate" and "to accuse",^[16] Old Frisian for "to determine" and "to declare",^[17] and Old High German for "to tell, to proclaim, to assert".^[13]

Derivatives

• *unþasaggjan "to renounce", which Wiktionary reconstructs from *unþa- "away" and the verb;^[18] Old Frisian has undsedza (“to call off a peace, to declare a feud”).^[19]
• *aiwasagō "lawspeaker", which Wiktionary reconstructs from *aiw "law", the verb and an agent suffix *-ō;^[20] the Old Frisian āsega was an expert in the law with official authority,^[21] and Bremmer compares Old Saxon ēosago.^[22]
• *sanþasagul "truthful", which Wiktionary reconstructs from *sanþ, the verb and *-ul;^[23] Old English has sōþsagol (“truthful”),^[24] and Orel derives Proto-Germanic *saʒulaz from the verb.^[4]

Reflexes

• Old English: seċġan (“to say, to speak, to tell, to relate, to accuse”)^[16]
• Old Frisian: sedza (“to say, to speak, to determine, to declare”)^[17]
• Old Saxon: seggian (“to say”)^[25]
• Old Dutch: sagon (“to say”)^[14]
• Old High German: sagēn (“to say, to tell, to proclaim, to assert”)^[13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 238
2. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *saggjan
3. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 420
4. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 311
5. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 50
6. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 365
7. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 108–109
8. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 212
9. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 363
10. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. seggian
11. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 93
12. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 94
13. ^ 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. sagên
14. ^ a b Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org, p. s.v. sagon
15. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2018), Historical Development of Dutch: Phonology & Morphology, Dialects & Stages, course reader, Leiden Summer School in Languages and Linguistics
16. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. secgan
17. ^ a b Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. sedza
18. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *unþasaggjan
19. ^ Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. undsedza
20. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *aiwasagō
21. ^ Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. āsega
22. ^ Bremmer, Rolf H., Jr. (2009), An Introduction to Old Frisian: History, Grammar, Reader, Glossary, Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins, p. 189
23. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *sanþasagul
24. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. sōþsagol
25. ^ Berr, Samuel (1971), An Etymological Glossary to the Old Saxon Heliand, Berne / Frankfurt: Herbert Lang, p. 338