batna

Forms

batna weak verb (present batnar, past batnaði, past participle batnat)^[1][2][3] The oldest Icelandic manuscripts write batne, batnaþe and botnom;^[4] AM 677 4to has the past plural bǫtnuðu.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *batnaną (“to get better”),^[6] matched by Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌱𐌰𐍄𐌽𐌰𐌽 (gabatnan, “to come to profit”), which Feist explains as a verb with the present suffix ⟨-n-⟩ made to Proto-Germanic *bataz (“good”).^[7][6] West Germanic has verbs of the same stem without the suffix: Old English batian (“to grow fat, get better”), Old Frisian batia (“to benefit”), Middle Low German bāten and Old High German bazzēn (“to get better”).^[8][9]

Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon assumes a lost adjective behind the verb, the base also of bati (“improvement”), betri (“better”) and bót (“remedy”), though that comparative now serves góðr (“good”), a different stem.^[10][11] The family has few relatives elsewhere in Indo-European; he compares, with hesitation, Sanskrit भद्र (bhadrá, “joyful, good”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰā̆d- (“good”).^[10][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

ONP's first citation is in the homily fragment it dates 1150 (Hóm237²), in the sense “become better”: sva at eigi at eins lęiþrettesc vander menn. af órom deómom. hęlldr batne oc góþer “so that not only are bad men set right by our example, but the good also grow better”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From “become better” the verb took an impersonal medical use, e-m batnar “one recovers”, with the illness in the genitive: henni batnaði sóttarinnar “she recovered from the sickness”.^[13][1][14] ONP has more than fifty citations of this use, and in religious texts the verb also means to amend one's life; its opposite is versna.^[3][15] In Vǫluspá it names the world's renewal: bǫls mun alls batna “all harm will be healed”.^[16][15]

Icelandic, Faroese and Norwegian keep batna,^[10] and Icelandic has the proverb batnanda manni er bezt að lifa “life goes best for the man who mends his ways”.^[13][17] English batten “to improve, to grow fat”, recorded from the 1590s, is probably a dialect survival of the Norse verb.^[18][19]

Timeline

• 1150 – batne “grow better” in the homily fragment Hóm237².^[3]
• 1200 – líf várt batne “our life may improve” in the Icelandic Homily Book; the same year, the sense “amend one's life”.^[3]
• 1200–1225 – batna, batnar, batne in AM 619 4to.^[20]
• 1220 – the impersonal e-m batnar “one recovers” in AM 645 4to.^[3]
• 1250–1300 – bǫls mun alls batna in Vǫluspá, GKS 2365 4to.^[21]
• 1590s – English batten “to improve; to fatten”.^[18]

Meanings

Verb

1. to improve, become better.^[3][1]
2. (impersonal) e-m batnar: one gets better, recovers from an illness, the illness in the genitive.^[3][1][13]
3. to better one's way of life, amend one's conduct.^[3]

Word family

• endrbatna
• fullbatna
• batnandi

Descendants

• Icelandic batna^[10]
• Faroese batna^[10]
• Norwegian Nynorsk batna^[10]

Related words

• bati
• betri
• bót
• bœta

References

1. ^ a b c d Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. batna
2. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Altnordisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary database copy), p. s.v. batna
3. ^ 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. batna
4. ^ Larsson, Ludvig (1891), Ordförrådet i de älsta islänska handskrifterna, Lund: Ph. Lindstedt, p. 30
5. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 677 4to
6. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
7. ^ Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 112
8. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 16
9. ^ Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. I, col. 505
10. ^ a b c d e f Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. batna
11. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 55
12. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
13. ^ a b c Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 53
14. ^ Möbius, Theodor (1866), Altnordisches Glossar, Leipzig: Teubner, p. 30
15. ^ a b Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. batna
16. ^ Gering, Hugo (1903), Vollständiges Wörterbuch zu den Liedern der Edda, Halle: Waisenhaus, p. col. 91
17. ^ Sigfús Blöndal (1920–1924), Islandsk-dansk ordbog, Reykjavík, p. 64
18. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com, p. s.v. batten
19. ^ de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 28
20. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 619 4to
21. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. GKS 2365 4to