þéttr

Forms

þéttr adj^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *þinhtaz (“tight”),^[2] the source also of Middle Low German dichte and Middle High German dīhte (“dense”).^[3][4] Noreen counts it among the words in which /i/ became /e/ before an /h/ that was later lost, comparing the Middle High German form.^[5]

The Germanic adjective belongs to the Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *tenk- (“to contract, become firm”), which gave Sanskrit तञ्च् (tañc, “to contract, coagulate”);^[2] de Vries follows Pokorny for the root and adds Irish words for curdling.^[4] Trier explained the sense “tight” from the clay wall that keeps out water, a view de Vries thinks likely.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Menota first dates the word in the manuscript Holm perg 4 fol of 1275–1300, with the forms þétt and þett.^[6] Larsson records a dative plural in AM 645 4to, among the oldest Icelandic manuscripts.^[7] In prose it means watertight, the opposite of lekr (“leaky”): skipit var þétt sem bytta “the ship was as tight as a tub”.^[8][9]

Semantic evolution

Prose uses the word of ships, houses and leather breeches that keep out water.^[10][8] Poetry also has it for “dense, thick”, as in þ. þyrnir “dense thorn”, for “weighty, sound” in þétt svǫr “weighty answers”, and in the accusative þéttan as an adverb, “without pause”.^[11][12]

It continues as Icelandic þéttur, Faroese tættur, Norwegian Nynorsk tett, Swedish tät and Danish tæt.^[4] It was borrowed into English and Scots dialects, into Orkney speech as thight and into Sami.^[4]

Timeline

• 1275–1300 – þétt in Holm perg 4 fol.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. tight, watertight, not leaky.^[1][10]
2. (poetic) dense, thick.^[11]
3. (poetic) weighty, sound.^[11][12]

Word family

• óþéttr

Descendants

• Faroese tættur^[2]
• Icelandic þéttur^[2]
• Norwegian Bokmål tett^[2]
• Norwegian Nynorsk tett^[2]
• Old Danish thæt^[2]
• Danish tæt^[2]
• Old Swedish thætter^[2]
• Swedish tät^[2]

References

1. ^ a b Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. þéttr
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
3. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
4. ^ a b c d e de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 609
5. ^ Noreen, Adolf (1923), Altisländische und altnorwegische Grammatik, 4th ed., Halle, p. § 111
6. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. Holm perg 4 fol
7. ^ Larsson, Ludvig (1891), Ordförrådet i de älsta islänska handskrifterna, Lund: Ph. Lindstedt, p. 380
8. ^ a b Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. þéttr
9. ^ Hægstad, Marius; Torp, Alf (1909), Gamalnorsk ordbok med nynorsk tyding, Kristiania: Det norske samlaget, p. 474
10. ^ a b Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 735
11. ^ a b c Finnur Jónsson (1931), Lexicon Poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, 2nd ed., Copenhagen: S. L. Møller, p. 639
12. ^ a b Sveinbjörn Egilsson (1860), Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, Hafniæ: Societas regia antiquariorum septentrionalium, p. 908