*skehan

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs the verb *skehan.^[1] It continues inherited from Proto-Germanic *skehaną (“to move quickly; to happen”),^[2][3] which Kroonen cites as *skehan- and Köbler as *skehan.^[2][3] Ringe and Taylor print the prefixed verb *gaskehan "to happen", from which they derive Old English ġesċēon through *gæskeohan, with breaking of *e before *h.^[4]

Morphology

A strong verb of class V in Old Frisian and Old High German.^[5][6] Old Frisian also has weak forms,^[7] and Old English sċēon is a weak verb of class II;^[8] Ringe and Taylor call the Old English verb poetic, with a weak class II past.^[4]

Evidence

The verb is attested as Old English sċēon,^[8] Old Frisian skiā,^[7] and Old High German skehan, whose only simplex form is ⟨skihit⟩ in the Hildebrandslied;^[6] Old High German usually has the prefixed giskehan.^[6] Tiefenbach counts the same form as Old Saxon skehan.^[9] EWA explains that the language of the simplex depends on whether the Hildebrandslied is taken for Old High German or Old Saxon: Lühr took it for an Old High German poem, so that Old Saxon had no such verb, while the unprefixed forms of Middle Low German make an Old Saxon predecessor conceivable.^[6] Old Dutch has only the prefixed verb.^[6] The North Germanic verbs for "to happen" were borrowed from Middle Low German.^[6] Ringe and Taylor list *gaskehan among the West Germanic words that are more or less isolated etymologically.^[10]

Competing analyses

Kroonen compares Old Irish, Welsh and Slavic verbs for "to move" and "to jump".^[2] Boutkan and Siebinga find no Indo-European etymology: the e-vowel of the Germanic verb has no match in these doubtful cognates, which also differ in meaning.^[11]

The Old English verb may not continue the strong verb directly.^[11][6] Boutkan and Siebinga, following Seebold and Campbell, take it for probably weak,^[11] and EWA derives it, with Middle High German schehen (“to rush”), from a durative or intensive weak verb *skeχ-ōi̯e/a-.^[6] Köbler likewise sets up a weak verb *skehōn beside the strong one,^[8] while Ringe and Taylor trace ġesċēon to *gaskehan.^[4]

Meanings

1. to move quickly^[2][1]
2. to happen^[2][1]

Kroonen holds that the original meaning "to move quickly" became "to happen" at an early stage.^[2] Old English also used the verb for "to hasten, to run, to fly".^[8]

Derivatives

• *gaskehan "to happen": Old English ġesċēon, Old Frisian skiā, Old High German giskehan.^[10] Old Dutch giskian is recorded in Williram's commentary of 1100 and in the Middle Franconian Rhyme Bible.^[12]
• *skikkijan "to arrange; to send", which Wiktionary reconstructs as a causative of the Proto-Germanic verb;^[13] Kroonen calls the Proto-Germanic *skekkjan- the causative of *skehan-, but finds its geminate and its e-grade unexplained.^[2]

Reflexes

• Old English: sċēon (“to happen, to befall; to hasten”)^[8]
• Old Frisian: skiā (“to happen”)^[7]
• Old Saxon: skehan (“to happen”)^[9]
• Old High German: skehan (“to happen”)^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *skehan
2. ^ a b c d e f g Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 442
3. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *skehan
4. ^ a b c Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 178
5. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altfriesisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. skiā
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. skehan
7. ^ a b c Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. skiā
8. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. scéon
9. ^ a b Tiefenbach, Heinrich (2010), Altsächsisches Handwörterbuch / A Concise Old Saxon Dictionary, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter, p. s.v. skehan
10. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 126
11. ^ a b c Boutkan, Dirk; Siebinga, Sjoerd Michiel (2005), Old Frisian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 1, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. skia
12. ^ Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org, p. s.v. giskian
13. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *skikkijan