ǫfugr

Forms

ǫfugr adj^[1] Older writers use contracted forms such as ǫfgir and ǫfgu;^[2][3] Old Norwegian law has afugr.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *abuhaz (“turned the wrong way”),^[4][5] the source also of Old Saxon abuh (“inverted, wicked”) and Old High German abuh (“wrong, bad, wicked”).^[4][6] Gothic 𐌹𐌱𐌿𐌺𐍃 (ibuks, “backwards”) is an ablaut relative.^[7][8]

Kroonen takes the Germanic adjective, like Sanskrit अपाञ्च् (ápāñc, “located backwards”) and Proto-Slavic *opakъ (“inverted”), from an old compound of Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó (“away from”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₃ekʷ- (“eye”), remade after the adjectives in ⟨*-uga-⟩.^[4][5] Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon compares Latin opācus (“shady”), literally “turned away from the light”, and links the word to the preposition af.^[9] Hellquist thinks it may rather be derived from that preposition.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is in the Norwegian–Icelandic manuscript Holm perg 4 fol of 1275–1300, in the plural ǫfgir “backwards”.^[11] Larsson also lists the form ofógr in one of the oldest Icelandic manuscripts.^[12]

Semantic evolution

The physical sense, “facing backwards, with the back foremost”, is the commoner one: men leap or walk ǫfugr, and a blow ǫfgri hendi is struck with the back of the hand.^[1][13] The figurative sense “unkind, hostile” appears in phrases such as mæla ǫfugt orð til e-s “to say a harsh word to someone”, and in the Eddic Sigrdrífumál.^[1][14][15] In the Norwegian laws a man killed ǫfgum vápnum was struck with the butt of a weapon.^[3][2]

It continues as Icelandic öfugur “turned the wrong way”.^[9] The Middle English adjective auk “backhanded; perverse” is from Old Norse, the source of awk, obsolete since the 17th century.^[16][17] Hellquist, after Björkman, thinks the first part of English awkward is a Norse loan rather than a native word.^[10]

Timeline

• 1275–1300 – ǫfgir in Holm perg 4 fol.^[11]
• 1320–1350 – ǫfugr in Njáls saga in AM 132 fol.^[18]
• mid-15th century – the English word awk “turned the wrong way”, from Old Norse.^[17]

Meanings

Adjective

1. turned the wrong way, facing backwards, with the back or tail foremost.^[1][19][2]
2. unkind, harsh, hostile.^[1][19][13]

Descendants

• Icelandic öfugur^[5]
• Norwegian Nynorsk ovug^[7]
• Old Swedish avigher^[5]
• Swedish avig^[5]
• Danish avet^[5]
• Middle English auk (→ English awk)^[16][17]

Related words

• af
• efja

References

1. ^ a b c d e Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. öfugr
2. ^ a b c d Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 762
3. ^ a b c Hertzberg, Ebbe (1895), Glossarium, in Norges gamle Love indtil 1387, vol. 5, Christiania, p. 756
4. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 2
5. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
6. ^ Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. col. 33
7. ^ a b de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 685
8. ^ Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 173
9. ^ a b Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. öfugur
10. ^ a b Hellquist, Elof (1922), Svensk etymologisk ordbok, Lund, p. s.v. avig
11. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. Holm perg 4 fol
12. ^ Larsson, Ludvig (1891), Ordförrådet i de älsta islänska handskrifterna, Lund: Ph. Lindstedt, p. 393
13. ^ a b Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. öfugr
14. ^ Gering, Hugo (1915), Glossar zu den Liedern der Edda, 4th ed., Paderborn, p. 216
15. ^ Neckel, Gustav (1927), Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius, vol. 2: Kommentierendes Glossar, Heidelberg, p. 205
16. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
17. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
18. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 132 fol
19. ^ a b Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 807