slegge

Forms

slegge f, also sleg and slei^[1][2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch slegge, inherited from Proto-Germanic *slagjōn, a noun formed from the stem of the verb that became slaan.^[2][1][3][4] Orel sets it up as *slaʒjō(n) and derives it from the noun behind slag.^[5] The same word is Old English slecg, the source of the English word sledge (compare sledgehammer), and Old Norse sleggja (“large smith's hammer”).^[2][4][5][1] Van Veen and Van der Sijs add Old High German slegil, and De Vries points to a related agent noun *slagjan in Old High German man-slecko (“murderer”).^[4][2]

De Vries also discusses a Middle Dutch plural sleyen from Frisian-coloured Holland, with North Holland slaai and West Frisian slaei, which he takes as a Frisian form of ⟨slag⟩; the Groningen ⟨slaai⟩ may instead go back to Old Saxon slegi.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Van Veen and Van der Sijs date slegghe to 1285.^[4] The record of that year, in the oldest accounts of Dordrecht, is printed as sleeghen; the Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek holds that it should probably be read sleggen, since the edition often prints ⟨eg⟩ for ⟨cg⟩.^[3] The word meant a wooden hammer, the sense of the Middle Dutch dictionary's oldest quotation, a judicial sentence of 1299 from Holland or Flanders.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The sense has stayed the same: the Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal defines sleg or slegge as a large wooden hammer with a long handle, also called slei, and quotes it from 1662 in a line about splitting elm with slegg' en wiggens, “sledges and wedges”.^[1] Middle Dutch also had the compound reigerslegge.^[3]

Timeline

• 1285 – A form read as sleggen appears in the oldest accounts of Dordrecht.^[4][3]
• 1299 – The oldest quotation in the Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, a judicial sentence.^[3]
• 1662 – Slegg' en wiggens “sledges and wedges” are used to split timber.^[1]

Meanings

Noun

1. A large wooden hammer with a long handle, a mallet or sledgehammer.^[1][2][7]

Related words

• slaan
• slag
• English sledge

Usage notes

A second slegge belongs to the south: in 16th-century Flemish and in Kiliaan it means drizzle, fine snow or wet mist, with the verb sleggeren “to drizzle” and the adjective sleggerig.^[3][1] The Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal quotes it from 1566 and takes it, too, as probably from the stem of slaan.^[1] De Bo records it in West Flemish for fine rain or snow that melts as it falls.^[8] The hamlet of Slegge in Westerwolde (Groningen), recorded from 1867 in Sleggeweg and Sleggekampen, may be named after the hammer, though the reason is unclear.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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
2. ^ a b c d e f Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
4. ^ a b c d e Veen, P. A. F. van; Sijs, Nicoline van der (1997), Etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van onze woorden, 2nd ed., Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Lexicografie
5. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
6. ^ Haeringen, C. B. van (1936), Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal: Supplement, 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
7. ^ a b Berkel, Gerald van; Samplonius, Kees (2018), Nederlandse plaatsnamen verklaard, Utrecht: Spectrum
8. ^ Bo, L. L. de (1892), Westvlaamsch idioticon, 2nd ed., ed. J. Samyn, Gent: Siffer