þegja

Forms

þegja (weak)^[1] Present þegi, past þagða or þagði, past participle þagat, also þagt.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *þagēn- (“to be silent”),^[1][4] an old stative verb that Kroonen equates with Latin taceō (“to be silent”), both from Proto-Indo-European *tHk-éh₁-.^[4] Its cognates are Gothic 𐌸𐌰𐌷𐌰𐌽 (þahan), Old Saxon thagian beside thagōn, and Old High German dagēn.^[4][5] The Gothic verb has ⟨h⟩ where the others have the ⟨g⟩ of Verner's law, which Kroonen puts down to Gothic levelling.^[4]

Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon suggests that the Norse verb was first an ē-verb like dagēn and 𐌸𐌰𐌷𐌰𐌽 (þahan),^[5] and Hellquist calls its ⟨j⟩ analogical.^[6] De Vries counts the match with Latin among the word-equations shared by Germanic and Latin.^[7] Links further afield, such as Welsh tagu (“to strangle”), are uncertain.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

IcePaHC dates its first record, þegði and þagat in the First Grammatical Treatise, to 1150,^[8] and Larsson finds þegia and þagat first in the fragment he calls 237.^[9] A homily prays: lúk þú upp munn mínn, þá er betr gegnir at mæla en þegja “open my mouth when it is better to speak than to be silent”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Beside “be silent”, the verb with a genitive meant “refrain from” words, and þegja yfir e-u “keep quiet about, conceal”.^[2][10] In Grágás a man who kept silent instead of joining a verdict þegir sik í fjörbaugsgarð, making himself liable to lesser outlawry.^[10][3] Of weather, the wind þagði “fell still”, and þegjanda logn is a dead calm.^[11][3] The Eddic advice mæla þarft eða þegja “speak to the purpose or keep silent” is in Hávamál.^[11]

It continues as Icelandic þegja, Swedish tiga and Danish tie; the ⟨g⟩ of Swedish tiga is analogical, as in säga.^[5][6]

Timeline

• 1150 – þegði and þagat in the First Grammatical Treatise, by IcePaHC's dating.^[8]
• 1200–1225 – þegia, þagat and þægiande in AM 619 4to, þegja and þagði in AM 677 4to.^[12][13]
• 1250–1300 – þegja and þegjandi in Holm perg 6 fol.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. to be silent, say nothing;^[2][3] þegi þú! be quiet!^[2][3]
2. with the genitive: to refrain from (words); þegja af to leave off.^[2][10]
3. þegja yfir e-u: to keep quiet about, conceal.^[2][15]
4. of wind: to fall still;^[11][3] þegjanda logn a dead calm.^[11][3]

Word family

• þǫgn
• þagna
• þagga
• þagall

Descendants

• Icelandic þegja^[1]
• Faroese tiga^[1]
• Norwegian Nynorsk tegja^[1]
• Swedish tiga^[1]
• Danish tie^[1]

Usage notes

Þegjandi “the silent” is found as a byname, as in Þórir þegjandi.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. þegja
3. ^ a b c d e f g Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 732
4. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 531
5. ^ a b c d Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. þegja
6. ^ a b Hellquist, Elof (1922), Svensk etymologisk ordbok, Lund, p. s.v. tiga
7. ^ de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 607
8. ^ a b Wallenberg, Joel C.; Ingason, Anton Karl; Sigurðsson, Einar Freyr; Rögnvaldsson, Eiríkur, Icelandic Parsed Historical Corpus, version 0.9
9. ^ Larsson, Ludvig (1891), Ordförrådet i de älsta islänska handskrifterna, Lund: Ph. Lindstedt, p. 380
10. ^ a b c d Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. þegja
11. ^ a b c d Finnur Jónsson (1931), Lexicon Poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, 2nd ed., Copenhagen: S. L. Møller, p. 637
12. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 619 4to
13. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 677 4to
14. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. Holm perg 6 fol
15. ^ Hægstad, Marius; Torp, Alf (1909), Gamalnorsk ordbok med nynorsk tyding, Kristiania: Det norske samlaget, p. 473
16. ^ Möbius, Theodor (1866), Altnordisches Glossar, Leipzig: Teubner, p. 448