þak

Forms

þak n (genitive þaks, plural þǫk) (strong a-stem)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *þaką (“roof, cover”),^[1][2] the noun behind Old English þæc (“roof”), Old Saxon thak and Old High German dah (“roof, covering”).^[2][3] Köbler sets up the Germanic stem as *þaka-.^[4]

Orel, Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon and Hellquist relate it to Latin toga (“covering, garment”) and tegō (“to cover”), Old Irish tech (“house”), Ancient Greek τέγος (tégos, “roof”) and Lithuanian stógas (“roof”), all from the root Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg- (“to cover”).^[2][5][6] Within Old Norse the verb þekja (“to thatch, cover”) and the adjective þjokkr (“thick”) belong to the same group,^[7][4] and so does þaka (“turf used for roofing”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is in the manuscript Holm perg 34 4to, of 1276–1300, where þak occurs twice.^[8] Fritzner cites the word from the Norwegian law (Landsl. 7, 28) and thinks it may there mean birch bark for roofing, though it may equally stand for þakviðr “roofing timber”.^[9] The Eddic poem Guðrúnarkviða III has the older sense “cover”: at it Þjóþrekr und þake svæfeþ “that you and Þjóðrekr slept under one cover”.^[10][11]

Semantic evolution

The word first named any covering: Zoëga and Fritzner put the bed-cover of the Eddic line first, and the roof second.^[12][9] In prose the usual sense is the roof of a house, made of turf, wood or shingles, as in the compounds torfþak, timbrþak and spánþak.^[13] From the roof the word passed to the material laid on it, especially birch bark in Norwegian charters.^[9][14] In the law of Grágás it stands for baugþak, an additional payment.^[13][9][7]

The word continues as Icelandic þak (“roof”),^[5][15] Swedish tak and Danish tag.^[6] De Vries also notes a loan into Shetland dialect, tag, and into Sami as dakke, takka.^[7]

Timeline

• 1276–1300 – þak twice in the manuscript Holm perg 34 4to.^[8]
• 1290–1310 – þaket “the roof” in Holm perg 17 4to.^[16]
• 1320–1350 – þak twice in the Laxdæla saga of AM 132 fol.^[17]
• 1325 – þökum in the first IcePaHC text with the word, by IcePaHC's dating.^[18]
• 1529 – þak for roofing bark in a Norwegian charter (DN III).^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. a covering, a bed-cover.^[12][9]
2. a roof, thatch.^[12][13][19]
3. roofing material, especially birch bark.^[9][14]
4. (law) an additional payment, the same as baugþak.^[9][14]

Word family

• baugþak
• torfþak
• timbrþak
• spánþak
• þaknæfr
• þakviðr

Descendants

• Icelandic þak^[1]
• Faroese tak^[1]
• Norwegian tak^[1]
• Old Swedish þak^[1]
• Swedish tak^[1]
• Old Danish thag^[1]
• Danish tag^[1]

Related words

• þekja
• þaka
• þjokkr

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 415
3. ^ Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. II, 490
4. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard, Altnordisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary database copy), p. s.v. þak
5. ^ a b c Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. þak
6. ^ a b Hellquist, Elof (1922), Svensk etymologisk ordbok, Lund, p. s.v. tak
7. ^ a b c de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 605
8. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. Holm perg 34 4to
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. þak
10. ^ Gering, Hugo (1903), Vollständiges Wörterbuch zu den Liedern der Edda, Halle: Waisenhaus, p. col. 1187
11. ^ Finnur Jónsson (1931), Lexicon Poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, 2nd ed., Copenhagen: S. L. Møller, p. 635
12. ^ a b c Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. þak
13. ^ a b c Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 729
14. ^ a b c Hægstad, Marius; Torp, Alf (1909), Gamalnorsk ordbok med nynorsk tyding, Kristiania: Det norske samlaget, p. 472
15. ^ Sigfús Blöndal (1920–1924), Islandsk-dansk ordbog, Reykjavík, p. 965
16. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. Holm perg 17 4to
17. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 132 fol
18. ^ Wallenberg, Joel C.; Ingason, Anton Karl; Sigurðsson, Einar Freyr; Rögnvaldsson, Eiríkur, Icelandic Parsed Historical Corpus, version 0.9
19. ^ Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 764