agi

Forms

agi m (genitive aga) (weak an-stem)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *agô,^[1] a masculine n-stem made on the root of Proto-Germanic *agiz (“fear”);^[2][1] Gersum notes that this stem type is found only in Scandinavia.^[2][1] The Proto-Germanic noun was an s-stem from Proto-Indo-European *h₂egʰ-os, continued in Gothic 𐌰𐌲𐌹𐍃 (agis, “fear”) and Old English ege (“fear”); the extended Old High German agiso, Old Saxon egiso and egesa “terror” are formed from it.^[3][4] Outside Germanic it is related to Ancient Greek ἄχος (ákhos, “pain, grief”) and Old Irish ad-ágor (“to fear”).^[5][6] In Old Norse it belongs with aga, ógn, ótti, ýgr and ægir.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Menota's earliest record is aga in AM 619 4to, of 1200–1225.^[7] ONP dates its first citation, from the Old Norwegian homilies, to 1212, in the sense “dread, awe”: Ða skelfr oll iorð fyrir aga mycclum “Then all the earth will tremble in great dread”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

ONP gives the senses “dread, awe”, “(harsh) discipline” and “enmity, strife”.^[8] The second is first dated in Ágrip, of 1225: Um daga fǫþor míns þá var lýþr undir aga miklom ok ótta “In my father's days the people lived under great constraint and fear”.^[8] Fritzner and Baetke put “unrest, strife” first.^[9][10] The King's Mirror has both “awe of God” and the discipline of youth, í œsku mæðan hann er undir aga “in youth, while he is under discipline”.^[8][11] In skaldic verse it means strife and tumult, and once the raging sea.^[12]

In Icelandic agi now means chiefly “discipline”, as does Danish ave.^[11][13] It was borrowed into Middle English as aghe, the source of English awe.^[2][14]

Timeline

• 1200–1225 – aga in AM 619 4to.^[7]
• c. 1200 – Middle English aghe, the ancestor of English awe.^[14]
• 1212 – fyrir aga mycclum “in great dread”, ONP's first dated citation.^[8]
• 1225 – aga in the sense “discipline” in Ágrip, by ONP's dating.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. dread, awe, fear of someone.^[8][15]
2. (harsh) discipline, constraint.^[8][15]
3. enmity, strife, uproar.^[8][9]
4. (poetic) heavy sea.^[12]

Word family

• agasamr
• agasamligr
• guðsagi

Descendants

• Icelandic agi^[1]
• Faroese agi^[1]
• Norwegian Nynorsk age^[1]
• Old Swedish aghi^[1]
• Old Danish aughæ^[1]
• Middle English aghe (→ English awe)^[2]

Related words

• aga
• ægir
• ógn
• ótti
• ýgr

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Dance, Richard; Pons-Sanz, Sara; Schorn, Brittany, eds., The Gersum Project: The Scandinavian Influence on English Vocabulary, gersum.org, p. s.v. aghe
3. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 4
4. ^ Torp, Alf (1909), Wortschatz der germanischen Spracheinheit (Fick, Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der indogermanischen Sprachen, 4th ed., vol. 3), Göttingen, p. 9
5. ^ a b de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 3
6. ^ a b Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. agi
7. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 619 4to
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. agi
9. ^ a b Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. agi
10. ^ Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 10
11. ^ a b Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 10
12. ^ a b Finnur Jónsson (1931), Lexicon Poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, 2nd ed., Copenhagen: S. L. Møller, p. 4
13. ^ Hellquist, Elof (1922), Svensk etymologisk ordbok, Lund, p. s.v. aga
14. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
15. ^ a b Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. agi