angr

Forms

angr m (strong a-stem)^[1]

Etymology

The word for sorrow is inherited from Proto-Germanic *angazaz (“worry, grief”).^[1][2] Kroonen takes the Germanic noun as a thematised form of an older s-stem, Proto-Indo-European *h₂emǵh-os,^[2] and Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon also calls it an old es-stem.^[3] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Indo-European *h₂enǵʰ- (“to tighten”).^[1] The same root gives Old High German angust (“fear, distress”), Latin angor (“anguish”) and Sanskrit अंहस् (aṃhas, “distress”),^[4][1][3] and in English the adjective Old English ange (“narrow, anxious”).^[5][6] Beside it Old Norse has the u-stem ǫngr (“narrow”).^[4][1]

Hellquist calls it a specifically Nordic word,^[7] and Kroonen derives Elfdalian ⟨aungger⟩ “sorry” from the same stem.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

ONP's first dated records are in the Icelandic Homily Book of about 1200, in eþa nǽsta alzkyns angr “or nearly every kind of affliction” and in the phrase geora sér etke at angré “to be troubled about nothing”.^[8] The Ágrip of 1225 has the sense of sorrow: þóat meþ margs angri væri fyrst “though at first it was to the grief of many”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

ONP keeps a masculine and a neuter article: sorrow, resentment and distress come first, then repentance, tribulation and physical harm.^[8] Cleasby and Vigfússon note that the word is always neuter in later Icelandic.^[9] It is most at home in religious works and romances.^[8] In the Eddic poems it means pain or grief and also damage.^[10]

Icelandic and Faroese angur keep the old sense, and Swedish ånger came to mean “remorse”.^[3][7] English anger is a loan from Norse,^[5][11][12] which in Middle English also meant harm and sorrow.^[5]

Timeline

• 1200 – alzkyns angr “every kind of affliction” in the Icelandic Homily Book.^[8]
• 1220–1235 – angar “sorrow” on a rune-bone from Lund, by Rundata's dating.^[13]
• 1225 – meþ margs angri “to the grief of many” in Ágrip.^[8]
• 1250–1300 – angr and angrs in Holm perg 6 fol.^[14]
• 1270 – var þa hugr hænnar i myklo angre “her mind was then in great distress” in Strengleikar.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. sorrow, resentment, distress.^[8][15]
2. repentance.^[8]
3. tribulation, affliction.^[8]
4. physical injury, harm.^[8][16]

Word family

• angra
• angrsamr
• angrfullr
• angrligr
• angrlyndi
• angrgapi
• hugarangr
• einangr
• ástarangr

Descendants

• Icelandic angur^[1]
• Faroese angur^[1]
• Norwegian Nynorsk anger^[1]
• Swedish ånger^[1]
• Danish anger^[1]
• Middle English anger (→ English anger)^[1][5][11]

Related words

• ǫngr

Usage notes

A second angr, masculine, meant “bay, inlet” and survives in Norwegian place-names such as Harðangr and Stafangr.^[9][16] Kroonen derives it from Proto-Germanic *angraz (“lowland, meadow”), the source of Old High German angar (“meadow”).^[2] Cleasby and Vigfússon's supplement prefers to derive these place-names from vangr.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 28
3. ^ a b c Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. angur
4. ^ a b de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 10
5. ^ 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. anger
6. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 6
7. ^ a b Hellquist, Elof (1922), Svensk etymologisk ordbok, Lund, p. s.v. ånger
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. angr
9. ^ a b Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 21
10. ^ Gering, Hugo (1903), Vollständiges Wörterbuch zu den Liedern der Edda, Halle: Waisenhaus, p. col. 39
11. ^ 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), p. s.v. anger
12. ^ Falk, Hjalmar; Torp, Alf (1910–1911), Norwegisch-dänisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg, p. s.v. anger
13. ^ Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata 3.1), Uppsala universitet (inscriptions by signum), p. DR DKSkL83
14. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. Holm perg 6 fol
15. ^ Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. angr
16. ^ a b Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. angr
17. ^ Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 771