bœn

Forms

bœn f (genitive bœnar, plural bœnir) (strong i-stem)^[1][2][3] Also normalised bǿn, as in ONP and Wiktionary;^[4][5] the manuscripts write bæn, bœn, bøn, biæn and béon.^[4] Wiktionary lists bón as another form.^[5] Gersum takes it as a by-form without i-umlaut, either an ō-stem or remodelled on the genitive bónar.^[6] Gotlandic runic inscriptions of the 1300s have the genitive plural byna.^[7][8]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *bōniz (“prayer, request”),^[9][2] an i-stem whose only other Germanic reflex is Old English bēn (“prayer, petition”).^[6][9]

Orel takes the noun as a derivative in ⟨-ni-⟩ of the verb Proto-Germanic *bōjaną and compares Old Armenian բան (ban, “word, speech”) and Ancient Greek φωνή (phōnḗ, “sound, voice”).^[9] De Vries likewise sets it beside the Armenian noun and refers to banna (“to forbid”).^[10] Wiktionary's Proto-Germanic entry also allows a noun inherited directly from the root Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- (“to speak”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

ONP's earliest citation is in the homily fragment it dates 1150 (Hóm237¹), already in the religious sense: mꜵnnom i beónom sinom “men in their prayers”.^[4] In a text ONP dates 1200 (FV15²) the word stands for one petition of a prayer: hvat bǿn es þat es vér biþiom goþ at nafn hans scyle helgasc? “what petition is it, when we ask God that his name be hallowed?”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

ONP divides the word into a general sense, a wish, request or petition, often in the plural, and a religious one, prayer to God or a saint; religious works give it about twice as often as their share of the corpus would lead one to expect.^[4] Cleasby and Vigfússon distinguish it from bón: bœn has the deeper sense and is the word for prayer to God, bón a request or favour asked.^[11] Common phrases are vera á bœnum “to be at prayer”, fella bœn at e-m “to entreat someone” and vera e-m góðr bœna “to be willing to grant someone's prayers”.^[1][3][4] In skaldic kennings bœnar nǫkkvi “the ship of prayer” is the breast.^[12][13]

Icelandic keeps bæn for prayer,^[14] and the mainland languages have Swedish bön and Danish bøn.^[15] English boon comes from the by-form bón: Middle English bone meant “petition, prayer”, and the sense passed to the thing asked for and then to a benefit.^[6][16]

Timeline

• 1150 – beónom “prayers” in the homily fragment Hóm237¹.^[4]
• Late 12th century – Middle English bone “petition, prayer”, from Old Norse.^[16]
• 1200 – bǿn “petition” in FV15², and the phrase góðr bǿna “ready to grant prayers”.^[4]
• 1200–1225 – bǿn, bønar and bønum in AM 619 4to.^[17]
• 1225–1250 – bœn, bœnom in DG 8 II.^[18]
• 1300s – byna on the Gotlandic grave slabs G 60 and G 167.^[7][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. a request, wish, petition or intercession, often in the plural.^[4][1]
2. (Christian) prayer to God or a saint; praying as an act of worship.^[4][11]

Word family

• bœna
• þrábœni
• auðbœnn
• torbœnn
• bœnahús
• bœnahald
• bœnarstaðr
• forbœn
• kirkjubœn

Descendants

• Icelandic bæn^[5]
• Faroese bøn^[5]
• Norwegian Nynorsk bøn^[5]
• Norwegian Bokmål bønn^[5]
• Swedish bön^[5]
• Danish bøn^[5]
• Middle English bone (→ English boon)^[6]

Related words

• banna
• bón
• biðja

References

1. ^ a b c Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. bœn
2. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard, Altnordisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary database copy), p. s.v. bœn
3. ^ a b Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. bœn
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. bœn
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
6. ^ 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. bone
7. ^ a b Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata 3.1), Uppsala universitet (inscriptions by signum), p. G 60
8. ^ a b Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata 3.1), Uppsala universitet (inscriptions by signum), p. G 167
9. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 52
10. ^ de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 69
11. ^ a b Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 91
12. ^ Finnur Jónsson (1931), Lexicon Poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, 2nd ed., Copenhagen: S. L. Møller, p. 73
13. ^ Sveinbjörn Egilsson (1860), Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, Hafniæ: Societas regia antiquariorum septentrionalium, p. 46
14. ^ Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. bæn
15. ^ Hellquist, Elof (1922), Svensk etymologisk ordbok, Lund, p. s.v. bön
16. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com, p. s.v. boon
17. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 619 4to
18. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. DG 8 II