deyja

Forms

deyja (singular past indicative dó, plural past indicative dó, past participle dáinn) (strong)^[1] Viking Age runic preterite plural dóu, written tuu and to, on Swedish runestones.^[2][3] A weak preterite deyði, deyde appears from the 13th century beside the strong dó.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *dawjaną (“to die”),^[1][6] originally a strong verb with the preterite *dōe, which gave the Norse preterite ⟨dó⟩, and the participle continued by dáinn.^[6] Its cognates are Old English dīegan, Old Saxon dōian and Old High German touwen,^[6][7] and within Germanic also Gothic 𐌳𐌹𐍅𐌰𐌽𐍃 (diwans, “mortal”), perhaps the participle of a lost strong verb, and the words for “dead” and “death”, dauðr and dauði.^[6][8]

Its Indo-European root is disputed. Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon and Jóhannesson derive it from Proto-Indo-European *dʰew- (“to faint, die”), comparing Old Irish díth (“end, death”) and Old Norse dvína (“to dwindle”);^[8][9] Kroonen rejects LIV's causative reconstruction because the Norse verb is strong, and prefers a link with Hittite tuḫḫušzi (“to end”), so that “to end” became a euphemism for dying.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb appears on Swedish runestones of the Viking Age, which Rundata does not date more closely, in the preterite dóu: the Gripsholm stone says of Haraldr, Ingvarr's brother, and his companions dóu sunnarla á Serklandi “they died in the south in Serkland”.^[2] In manuscripts the first dated record is the Elucidarius in AM 674 a 4to, dated 1175 by ONP: En ef hann berger af lifs tre. þa ęldesc hann eige ne svkesc ne deyr “but if he tastes of the tree of life, he neither ages nor sickens nor dies”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The core sense, “to die”, is stable; the Hávamál line deyr fé, deyja frændr “cattle die, kinsmen die” is the best known use.^[10][11] Fixed uses include deyja í fjall, to pass into a mountain to one's ancestors at death, and á deyjanda degi “on one's dying day”.^[4][5] In the laws dáinn arfr is an inheritance that has fallen due through a death.^[4][5] It is also said of a limb going numb, and of things dying away or losing their strength.^[5][4]

A weak preterite deyði appears from the 13th century, especially in Norwegian texts and charters;^[4][12] Cleasby and Vigfússon took it for a Danish form foreign to Icelandic.^[11] The verb lives on as Icelandic deyja, Norwegian Nynorsk døy, Swedish dö and Danish dø.^[8] English die, from the mid-12th century, is possibly from Old Norse or Old Danish;^[13] Jóhannesson calls it a Norse loan.^[9]

Timeline

• 1175 – deyr and deyia in the Elucidarius, AM 674 a 4to.^[4]
• 1200 – the present participle deyjandi “dying” in the Icelandic Homily Book.^[4]
• 1200–1225 – deyr, dó and deyjanda in the manuscript AM 677 4to.^[14]
• 1212 – the weak participle devþr in Erasmus saga.^[4]
• 1350 – the weak preterite deyði in a Norwegian charter.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. to die;^[4][10][15] deyja í fjall to pass into a mountain at death.^[4][10][15]
2. (present participle) deyjandi dying;^[4][10] á deyjanda degi on one's deathbed, dying day.^[4][10]
3. (past participle, law) dáinn arfr an inheritance fallen due by a death.^[4][5]
4. of a limb, to go numb.^[5][12]
5. to die away, lose its strength.^[4]

Word family

• dáinn
• deyjandi

Descendants

• Icelandic deyja^[1]
• Faroese doyggja^[1]
• Norwegian Nynorsk døy^[1]
• Swedish dö^[1]
• Danish dø^[1]
• Middle English deyen, whence English die^[13]

Related words

• dauðr
• dauði
• dá
• dvína

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata 3.1), Uppsala universitet (inscriptions by signum), p. Sö 179
3. ^ Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata 3.1), Uppsala universitet (inscriptions by signum), p. U 73
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. deyja
5. ^ a b c d e f Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. deyja
6. ^ a b c d e Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 90
7. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 70
8. ^ a b c Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. deyja
9. ^ a b Jóhannesson, Alexander (1956), Isländisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern, p. 502
10. ^ a b c d e Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. deyja
11. ^ a b Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 99
12. ^ a b Hægstad, Marius; Torp, Alf (1909), Gamalnorsk ordbok med nynorsk tyding, Kristiania: Det norske samlaget, p. 54
13. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
14. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 677 4to
15. ^ a b Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 85