Etymologically
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erg

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Pronunciation

  • /ɛrx/, /ˈɛ.rəx/[1]

Forms

erg (comparative erger, superlative ergst)[1] An older form arg was still common beside erg in the 17th century and survives in dialects of North Holland and Groningen.[2] Regional pronunciations are written erreg and errug.[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch arch or erch, inherited from Old Dutch arug, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *arg, inherited from Proto-Germanic *argaz (“unmanly, cowardly”).[2][1][3] The change of ⟨a⟩ to ⟨e⟩ is common in Dutch before ⟨r⟩ followed by a dental or velar consonant.[2][4] The same word is Old High German arg (“cowardly, lazy, wicked, lewd”) (modern German arg), Old Frisian erch (“bad”), Old English earg (“cowardly, sluggish”) and Old Norse argr (“unmanly, cowardly, depraved”).[2][3] Finnish arka (“cowardly”) is a loan from Germanic.[2]

Calling someone ⟨arg⟩ was a grave insult in the oldest texts of all the Germanic languages; the word occurs in a Lombard law code of 642, the Edict of Rothari, and the sense “cowardly” was linked there with the passive role in homosexuality, as in Old Norse.[2] Van Haeringen, following Weisweiler, took “lewd, perverse” as the oldest sense, from which came “unmanly” and “cowardly”, while “wicked” arose under Christian influence.[5][6]

Relatives outside Germanic are very uncertain.[2][4] Bjorvand and Lindeman, cited by the EWN, derive it from Proto-Indo-European *h₁orǵʰo- (“mounted, covered”), from *h₁erǵʰ- (“to mount”);[2][3][1] Kroonen and Wiktionary set up *h₃orǵʰ-o- and compare Lithuanian aržùs (“lustful”).[2][3][1] Links with Greek words for “testicle” and “to dance” have been proposed but are rejected or thought unlikely.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old Dutch arug glosses Latin perversa in the Wachtendonck Psalms of the 10th century.[7][2][8] The place name Archem near Ommen, Arachem in 947, may contain the same word.[7] In early Middle Dutch the word is mostly found in the comparative: argre “worse” around 1240, argher “more depraved” of people in 1285.[2]

Semantic evolution

In Middle Dutch arch meant wicked, bad, worthless, and of things shameful or harmful; the comparative arger was more common than the plain form.[9] The noun arch meant evil: verlose ons van arghe, “deliver us from evil”, is in a Brabant Lord's Prayer of 1291.[10][9]

The moral sense “wicked” is now obsolete.[4] The meaning has been generalised to “severe, dangerous”, and in the adverb weakened to “very”, at first only in unfavourable contexts, now in all.[2] The adverb “very” is recorded from 1866–1867.[8][2] The noun survives in zonder erg, once “without ill intent”, now “unawares, without thinking”.[4]

The verb ergeren “to annoy, offend” is formed from the comparative, literally “to make worse”, and is recorded about 1240 as argren “to damage”.[2] The word was taken into Surinamese Javanese as èreg “bad”.[11][1]

Timeline

  • 901–1000 – Old Dutch arug “perverse” appears in the Wachtendonck Psalms.[7][8]
  • c. 1240 – The comparative argre “worse” and the verb argren.[2]
  • 1291 – Verlose ons van arghe, “deliver us from evil”.[10]
  • 1587 – The noun in erch dencken “to suspect evil”.[4]
  • 1866 – Erg as an adverb meaning “very”.[8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Unpleasant, bad: Het is niet erg dat je te laat bent.[12][1]
  2. Shocking, disgraceful.[12]
  3. severe, intense, serious: een erge verkoudheid.[12][1][13]

Adverb

  1. very, to a high degree: Ik vond het erg gezellig.[12][1][13]

Word family

  • ergeren
  • ergernis
  • verergeren
  • allerergst
  • argeloos
  • arglist
  • argwaan
  • German arg

Usage notes

Erg as the name of a unit of work in physics, from Greek ergon “work”, is a separate word, recorded from 1907.[8][12]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Philippa, Marlies; Debrabandere, Frans; Quak, Arend; Schoonheim, Tanneke; Sijs, Nicoline van der (2003–2009), Etymologisch woordenboek van het Nederlands, 4 vols., Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press; online via etymologiebank.nl
  3. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d e Vries, Matthias de; Winkel, L. A. te, et al. (1882–1998), Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal, 29 vols., 's-Gravenhage / Leiden: Nijhoff / Sijthoff / SDU; supplement 2001; gtb.ivdnt.org
  5. ^ Haeringen, C. B. van (1936), Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal: Supplement, 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
  6. ^ Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 122
  7. ^ a b c Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org
  8. ^ a b c d e Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
  9. ^ a b Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
  10. ^ a b Pijnenburg, W. J. J., et al. (2001), Vroegmiddelnederlands woordenboek: woordenboek van het Nederlands van de dertiende eeuw in hoofdzaak op basis van het Corpus-Gysseling, Leiden: Instituut voor Nederlandse Lexicologie; gtb.ivdnt.org
  11. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
  12. ^ a b c d e Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
  13. ^ a b WikiWoordenboek (Dutch Wiktionary), nl.wiktionary.org