aka

Forms

aka (singular past indicative ók, plural past indicative óku, past participle ekinn) (strong)^[1] A weak form aka (past akaði) also occurs, and became the more common in later Icelandic.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *akaną (“to drive”),^[4][5] from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- (“to drive”), the root of Latin agō (“to drive”), Ancient Greek ἄγω (ágō, “to lead”) and Sanskrit अजति (ájati, “drives”).^[6][4][1] Kroonen gives the present as *h₂éǵ-e-.^[4] The verb is found only in North Germanic: Torp notes that the German languages did not keep it.^[7][4]

Orel, following Seebold, takes Old English acan (“to ache”) as historically the same verb, comparing the senses of agitō (“to stir up, disturb”);^[5] Hellquist allows this as possible,^[8] but Kroonen separates the Old English verb and links it with Sanskrit आजि (ājí, “race, fight”).^[4]

The Old Swedish form āka and Swedish åka have a long vowel, which de Vries explains by another ablaut grade or by lengthening.^[6] Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon gives the original sense of the stem as “to set in motion, drive on”, and connects akr (“field”), ǫxull (“axle”), ekja (“carting”) and æki (“cartload”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

ONP's first dated record is in Þorláks saga in AM 645 4to, of 1220: post þat tóco þeir hest, oc løgþo vǿgor á, oc ętloþo at aca heim kvɴi “after that they took a horse and laid a litter on it, and meant to carry the woman home”.^[10][11] There the verb means to carry by means of a draught animal.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The verb's central sense is to drive a vehicle or a draught animal, with the vehicle in the dative; this gave the senses “travel in a vehicle” and “transport, cart”.^[10][12] The proverb gott er heilum vagni heim at aka “it is good to drive home with a whole wagon” meant to get home safe.^[12][10] In seamanship aka segli meant to brace or trim the sail,^[10][13] and in the general sense “to move, shift” the verb gave aka undan “to give way” and aka á bug e-m “to get the better of someone”.^[14][10] In poetry the gods drive: Hrymr ekr austan “Hrymr drives from the east” in Vǫluspá, Þórr in his goat-drawn chariot.^[15][16]

It continues as Icelandic aka, Faroese aka, Swedish åka and Danish age.^[9][6]

Timeline

• 1220 – aca heim “carry home” in Þorláks saga in AM 645 4to.^[10]
• 1237 – hann var higat ekinn i elligre kerro “he was driven here in a cart of old age”.^[10]
• 1250–1300 – Hrymr ekr austan in Vǫluspá in GKS 2365 4to.^[17][15]
• 1265 – aka “drive” in Staðarhólsbók of Grágás.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. to drive a vehicle or draught animal; to travel in a vehicle, go.^[10][12]
2. to retreat, give way before someone.^[10][14]
3. to transport, cart, with a draught animal.^[10][12]
4. (nautical) aka segli, to brace or trim the sail.^[10][12]
5. to move, shift, work something off.^[12][3]

Word family

• ekja
• æki

Descendants

• Icelandic aka^[1]
• Faroese aka^[1]
• Norwegian Nynorsk aka^[1]
• Swedish åka^[8]
• Danish age^[1]

Related words

• akr
• ǫxull

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 10
3. ^ a b Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. aka
4. ^ a b c d e Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 18
5. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 11
6. ^ a b c de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 3
7. ^ Torp, Alf (1909), Wortschatz der germanischen Spracheinheit (Fick, Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der indogermanischen Sprachen, 4th ed., vol. 3), Göttingen, p. 7
8. ^ a b Hellquist, Elof (1922), Svensk etymologisk ordbok, Lund, p. s.v. åka
9. ^ a b Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. aka
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. aka
11. ^ Larsson, Ludvig (1891), Ordförrådet i de älsta islänska handskrifterna, Lund: Ph. Lindstedt, p. 7
12. ^ a b c d e f Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. aka
13. ^ Hertzberg, Ebbe (1895), Glossarium, in Norges gamle Love indtil 1387, vol. 5, Christiania, p. 65
14. ^ a b Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 12
15. ^ a b Gering, Hugo (1903), Vollständiges Wörterbuch zu den Liedern der Edda, Halle: Waisenhaus, p. col. 20
16. ^ Finnur Jónsson (1931), Lexicon Poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, 2nd ed., Copenhagen: S. L. Møller, p. 5
17. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. GKS 2365 4to