*wikā

Reconstruction

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

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *wikǭ (“sequence; week”),^[1] which Ringe and Taylor and Kroonen cite as *wikōn- and Orel as *wikōn.^[1][3][4] In Old English it gave *wiċe and, with the nominative singular ending of another class of feminine nouns, *wicu, West Saxon wucu and Northumbrian ⟨wicu⟩.^[1]

Morphology

A feminine n-stem.^[5][6] Old English also has forms of the feminine stems in *-ō.^[7][1]

Evidence

The word is attested in Old English wice, Old Frisian wike and Old High German wehha,^[1] Old High German from glosses of the third quarter of the 8th century.^[6] Old Saxon has it only in compounds: Old Saxon krūciwika (“week of the Cross”) in a record of about 1100 and wekewerk (“a week's work”) in the 12th-century rent-roll of Werden.^[8][9]

Competing analyses

The meaning "week" is found only in Northwest Germanic, against Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌺𐍉 (wikō, “order, sequence”).^[3] Kroonen reports the usual view that it developed from "to give way" (Proto-Germanic *wīkwan-), but he finds an original meaning "shift" closer to the Gothic word and to Faroese vika (“to shift, to move”).^[3] Orel cites Kluge's view that the meaning "week" arose under the influence of Latin vicem (“exchange”),^[4] and Köbler thinks the word was perhaps borrowed from Latin.^[10] Boutkan and Siebinga set out two etymologies, from a root "to wind, to turn" with a basic meaning "period", or from a root "exchange", perhaps of substrate origin, with a basic meaning "returning period".^[11]

Meanings

1. week^[1][2]

Reflexes

• Old English: wice (“week”)^[12]
• Old Frisian: wike (“week”)^[13]
• Old Saxon: krūciwika (“week of the Cross”)^[8]
• Old High German: wehha (“week”)^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 323
2. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *wikā
3. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 586
4. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 462
5. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altfriesisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wike
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wehha
7. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wice
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. krūciwika
9. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wekewerk
10. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *wikō-
11. ^ Boutkan, Dirk; Siebinga, Sjoerd Michiel (2005), Old Frisian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 1, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. wike
12. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. wice
13. ^ Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. wike