*skaþō

Reconstruction

Ringe and Taylor reconstruct *skaþō for Proto-West Germanic, from Proto-Northwest Germanic *skaþō̄ "damage, destruction",^[1] and Wiktionary has the same form.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *skaþô (“damage, harm”),^[2][3] which Kroonen cites by its stem *skaþan- and Köbler as *skaþō-, *skaþan.^[3][4] EWA also traces the West Germanic words to Proto-Germanic *skaþan-.^[5] Schaffner counts *skáþan- "harmer, damage" among the n-stems of Proto-Germanic with the voiceless fricative of Verner's law at the end of the root.^[6] In Old English the root vowel was fronted and then retracted again before the back vowel of the next syllable: Ringe and Taylor trace *skaþō through *skæþā to Old English sċaþa.^[7][1]

Morphology

A masculine n-stem.^[8][9] Tiefenbach sets up the Old Saxon word for "damage" as a feminine ō-stem, as Gallée had suggested, on the evidence of a single gloss ⟨scátha⟩ of the 10th century.^[5] EWA takes it to be masculine all the same, because the Old Saxon masculine n-stems also have -a in the nominative singular and the other Germanic languages have a masculine; the feminine of Middle Dutch is a later development.^[5]

Evidence

Ringe and Taylor give the word in Old Saxon, Old High German, Old English and Old Frisian.^[1] Old Saxon has it in the Heliand, as scatho,^[10] and Old High German in glosses from the end of the 8th century and in Otfrid and Notker.^[5] In Old Dutch, ONW records scatho in the Middle Franconian Rhyme Bible of 1151–1200.^[11] The Old Frisian word meant both "damage" and "harmer, criminal".^[12]

Competing analyses

Whether "damage" and "harmer" are one word or two is disputed.^[5][4] EWA separates two Old High German nouns, skado "damage, harm" and a second skado "robber, accomplice", the latter an agent noun to the strong verb of class VI that it reconstructs as Proto-Germanic *skaþi̯e/a-; it notes that the dictionaries of Old High German and the other Germanic languages often do not keep them apart.^[5][13] Tiefenbach likewise heads the Old Saxon words for "damage" and "evil-doer" separately,^[14][10] while Köbler gives one Proto-Germanic noun with both meanings.^[4] EWA connects the nouns with that strong verb, which survives in Old English and Gothic.^[5]

Meanings

1. damage, destruction^[1][2]

The daughters also used the word for the one who does harm: Old English and Old Saxon "evil-doer",^[1] Old Frisian "harmer, criminal",^[12] and Old High German "robber".^[13] Old Frisian also used it for a penalty payment.^[12]

Derivatives

• *skaþþjan "to harm": Ringe and Taylor derive it from Proto-Germanic *skaþjaną and find it mainly in Anglian form, as Mercian sċeþþan, which was borrowed into West Saxon prose.^[15]
• *skaþōn "to injure, to harm", which Wiktionary reconstructs;^[16] Kroonen derives the weak verbs of the daughters from the noun,^[3] among them Old Frisian skathia (“to harm”),^[17] Old Saxon skathon (“to damage”)^[18] and Old Dutch skathon (“to condemn”).^[19]

Reflexes

• Old English: sċeaþa (“criminal, thief, enemy, harmer; harm”)^[20]
• Old Frisian: skatha (“damage, disadvantage, penalty payment; harmer, criminal”)^[12]
• Old Saxon: skatho (“damage, evil-doer”)^[8]
• Old Dutch: skatho (“damage”)^[11]
• Old High German: skado (“damage, harm, ruin, punishment; robber”)^[9]

References

1. ^ 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. 192
2. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *skaþō
3. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 441
4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *skaþō-
5. ^ 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. skado¹
6. ^ Schaffner, Stefan (2001), Das Vernersche Gesetz und der innerparadigmatische grammatische Wechsel des Urgermanischen im Nominalbereich, Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft 103, Innsbruck, p. 503
7. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 190
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. skatho
9. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. skado
10. ^ a b Tiefenbach, Heinrich (2010), Altsächsisches Handwörterbuch / A Concise Old Saxon Dictionary, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter, p. s.v. skatho
11. ^ a b Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org, p. s.v. skatho
12. ^ a b c d Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. skatha
13. ^ a b 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. skado²
14. ^ Tiefenbach, Heinrich (2010), Altsächsisches Handwörterbuch / A Concise Old Saxon Dictionary, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter, p. s.v. skatha
15. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 206
16. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *skaþōn
17. ^ Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. skathia
18. ^ Tiefenbach, Heinrich (2010), Altsächsisches Handwörterbuch / A Concise Old Saxon Dictionary, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter, p. s.v. skathon
19. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Altniederfränkisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. skathon
20. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. sceaþa