bekkr

bekkr¹ bench

Pronunciation

• 12th century Icelandic: /ˈbɛkːr̩/^[1]

Forms

bekkr m (genitive bekkjar or bekks, plural bekkir) (strong i-stem)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the bench is inherited from Proto-Germanic *bankiz (“bench”),^[1][2][3] the source of Old English benc, Old Frisian benk, Old Saxon bank and Old High German bank.^[2][4] The /kk/ is assimilated from /nk/.^[5]

Kroonen notes that the noun is usually connected with Proto-Germanic *bankô (“slope, elevation”), the source of bakki (“bank, ridge”), through a sense “raised place”; Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon and Torp also take the first meaning as “elevation, platform”.^[2][6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

ONP's first dated record is from Morkinskinna, 1275, in the phrase letr sva fara innar eptir becnom “has it go on inward along the benches” of a hall.^[8]

Semantic evolution

In the sagas the word is mostly the long bench or raised platform along each side wall of the hall, sometimes set against the pallr, the cross-dais at the end.^[8] The two side benches had different rank: hinn œðri bekkr on the north side, facing the sun, was the upper bench, and hinn úœðri bekkr opposite it the lower.^[9][10] Hence the phrases á báða bekki “on both sides of the hall”, skipa bekk “to seat people along a bench”, and setja brúði á bekk “to seat the bride on the bridal bench”, that is, to open a wedding feast.^[8] ONP's genre table shows the word above all in the family and contemporary sagas.^[8] A record of 1512 uses it for the row of squares nearest the player on a game board.^[8]

The word continues as Icelandic bekkur, also “form” of a school.^[6][11] De Vries lists loans in Shetland, Manx and English dialect,^[3] while Cox finds the derivation of Scottish Gaelic being from it unlikely on formal grounds.^[12]

Timeline

• 1275 – eptir becnom “along the benches” in Morkinskinna, the first dated record.^[8]
• 1287 – á enn óæðra bekk “on the lower bench”.^[8]
• 1320–1350 – bekk, bekkina, bekkjum in the Njáls saga of AM 132 fol.^[13]
• 1462 – setja brúði á bekk, of opening a wedding feast.^[8]
• 1512 – the row of squares on a game board.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. a bench, especially the long bench or raised platform along each side of a hall.^[8][10][14]
2. (on a game board) the row of squares nearest the player, the edge.^[8]

Word family

• langbekkr
• ǫlbekkr
• pallbekkr
• brúðbekkr
• gestabekkr
• bekkjargjǫf

Descendants

• Icelandic bekkur^[1]
• Faroese bekkur^[1]
• Norwegian Nynorsk bekk^[1]

bekkr² brook

Pronunciation

• 12th century Icelandic: /ˈbɛkːr̩/^[1]

Forms

bekkr m (genitive bekkjar or bekks, plural bekkir) (strong i-stem)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the brook is inherited from Proto-Germanic *bakjaz (“brook, creek”),^[15][3][6] beside which West Germanic has an i-stem in Old English bece, Old Saxon beki and Old High German bah.^[3][6][15] Wiktionary sets up that form, Proto-Germanic *bakiz, for the whole group.^[1]

Kroonen traces it to Proto-Indo-European *bʰog- (“running water”), comparing Slavic words for mud and marsh and, more doubtfully, Old Irish búal (“water”); Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon and de Vries compare the Irish word too.^[15][6][3] Orel calls the origin uncertain, and Torp suggested instead a root “to run”.^[16][17]

Earliest recorded meaning

ONP's first dated record is from Morkinskinna, 1275: Þar var firir einn mikill eitrormr. oc svaf þa viþ becc einn er flꜹt i hellinom “A great venomous serpent was there, and it slept beside a brook that ran through the cave”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Cleasby and Vigfússon note that in Iceland the word is poetic and rare, the usual word, even in place-names of the tenth century, being lækr; in prose it is mostly Norwegian usage, as in the Norwegian laws.^[18] ONP's citations bear this out, with the most in histories, religious texts and laws, and some in Norwegian charters, where a brook marks a boundary.^[8] Zoëga marks the sense as poetic.^[10]

It survives in Swedish bäck and Danish bæk, and was borrowed into Middle English as beck and into the place-names of Normandy.^[3][19]

Timeline

• 1275 – viþ becc einn “beside a brook” in Morkinskinna, the first dated record.^[8]
• 1276–1300 – bekkr, beckr in Holm perg 34 4to.^[20]
• 1292 – bækkræn in a Norwegian charter, as a boundary.^[21][8]
• 1297 – allt tíll beksens “all the way to the brook” in a Stavanger charter.^[8][22]
• 1320 – in the Norwegian national law.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. a brook, a small stream.^[8][10][14]

Descendants

• Icelandic bekkur^[1]
• Faroese bekkur^[1]
• Norwegian Nynorsk bekk^[1]
• Swedish bäck^[1]
• Danish bæk^[1]
• English beck^[19]