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Etymology and origin of the Old Norse word egg

egg1 egg

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1250 Konungsbók of Grágás
Inherited from
Proto-Germanic *ajją
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *h₂ōwyóm

Forms

egg n (genitive eggs, plural egg) (strong ja-stem)[1]

Etymology

The word for the egg is inherited from Proto-Germanic *ajją (“egg”),[1][2] a neuter that continues the Proto-Indo-European word for the egg, Proto-Indo-European *h₂ōwyóm.[1][2] Its relatives are Old English ǣg, Old Saxon ei and Old High German ei,[2][3] and outside Germanic Ancient Greek ᾠόν (ōión) and Latin ōvum.[3][4]

Kroonen, like most scholars, takes the Indo-European word as a derivative with lengthened grade of the word for “bird”, Proto-Indo-European *h₂éwis, the source of avis (“bird”);[2] Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon also thinks the link with avis likely,[4] and de Vries describes the word as originally an adjective formed to it.[5] In Kroonen's account the Germanic ⟨-jj-⟩ arose by Holtzmann's law, the gemination of *-j- before the accent.[2] Old Norse and Gothic show this sharpening of the glide, while Old English, Old Saxon and Old High German lack it.[6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is in the Konungsbók manuscript of the Icelandic law Grágás, which ONP dates to 1250, in a rule on fasting: A þeim tiþvm scal eɢ eta er meɴ eta hvitan mat “eggs are to be eaten at those times when people eat white food”.[7] The sense there is the bird's egg as food, as in all the early records.[7]

Semantic evolution

The word kept the one sense “egg”, used also collectively for eggs as food or as a yield of the land.[7] The law of Grágás deals with the eggs of wild birds, such as swans nesting on land that is sold, as property.[7][8] Compounds name the eggs of particular birds, of the duck, goose, swan and eider.[7][9]

It lives on as Icelandic egg and Faroese egg, Swedish ägg and Danish æg.[4] The Norse form was taken into northern Middle English and became the standard English word egg, first recorded in the mid-14th century;[10][6] Gersum treats its consonant as a secure sign of a loan from Norse.[6]

Timeline

  • 1250 – eɢ in the Konungsbók manuscript of Grágás, in a fasting rule.[7]
  • 1250–1300 – egg and eɢ in the medical manuscript AM 655 XXX 4to.[11]
  • 1265 – eggs of swans as part of the yield of land in the Staðarhólsbók manuscript of Grágás.[7]
  • 1275 – tak … egg ok sjóð hart “take … an egg and boil it hard”, a medical recipe.[7]
  • mid-14th century – Middle English egge, from Norse.[10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. an egg, especially a bird's egg; also collectively, eggs.[7][12][13]

Word family

  • andaregg
  • álftaregg
  • gásaregg
  • hǿnuegg
  • hǿnsaegg
  • ǽðaregg

Descendants

  • Icelandic egg[1]
  • Faroese egg[1]
  • Norwegian Nynorsk egg[1]
  • Swedish ägg[1]
  • Danish æg[1]
  • Middle English egge, whence English egg[10]

egg2 edge

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1200 Icelandic Homily Book
Inherited from
Proto-Germanic *agjō
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ-

Forms

egg f (genitive eggjar, plural eggjar) (strong jō-stem)[1]

Etymology

The word for the edge is inherited from Proto-Germanic *agjō (“edge, blade”),[1][14] a feminine *jō*-stem formed to the root Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ- (“sharp”).[1][14] Its West Germanic cognates are Old English ecg, Old Frisian egg, Old Saxon eggia and Old High German ecka,[15][14][16] the last now German Ecke (“corner”).[14][17] Outside Germanic the same root gives Latin aciēs (“sharp edge”) and Ancient Greek ἀκίς (akís, “point”).[15][4][5]

Köbler and de Vries set it apart from the neuter “egg”, which has a separate source.[18][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is in the Icelandic Homily Book, dated 1200 by ONP, in an image of discipline: eigi má huast verþa iárnit elligar. nema til eɢiar se hvaᴛ eþa sorfit “the iron cannot become sharp otherwise, unless it is whetted or filed to an edge”.[7] The sense is the cutting edge of a blade.[7] The Norwegian manuscript AM 619 4to of 1200–1225 has the plural æggiaʀ, in the pairing of iron and edges that stands for weapons.[19][7]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is the cutting edge of an axe, sword or knife.[7][8] Since the usual sword was double-edged, the plural eggjar is used even of one sword, and it came to stand for weapons in general.[20][9][7] The pair oddr ok egg “point and edge” is frequent in the laws and the histories: to defend something oddi ok eggju is to defend it by force of arms.[7][12][21] A homily turns it to the spiritual: the Paternoster and Creed are “both point and edge” against the devil.[8]

From the blade the word passed to other edges: the edge of a flat stone, set on edge, and the ridge or crest of a mountain, which is common in Norwegian place-names.[7][9][8] From the noun comes the verb eggja “to whet; to incite”,[4] which gave English egg (“to urge on”).[10] The noun lives on in Icelandic egg, Norwegian Nynorsk egg and Swedish egg.[4][22]

Timeline

  • 1200 – til eɢiar “to an edge” in the Icelandic Homily Book.[7]
  • 1200–1225 – æg and æggiaʀ in the Norwegian manuscript AM 619 4to.[19]
  • 1212 – oddr ok æg “point and edge”, of the Paternoster and Creed, in a Norwegian homily.[7]
  • 1265 – oddi eða eɢio “with point or edge” in the Staðarhólsbók manuscript of Grágás.[7]
  • 1270–1280 – æggium in the manuscript AM 243 bα fol.[23]
  • 1275 – þar sem egg oc leggr mœtesc “where edge and bone meet”, in the Gulathing law's assessment of wounds.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. the cutting edge of an axe, sword, knife or other blade.[7][12][13]
  2. (in the plural) weapons, swords;[7][24] oddr ok egg “point and edge”, force of arms.[7][24]
  3. the edge of a flat stone;[7][9] setja á egg “to set on edge”.[7][9]
  4. a cliff-top, the ridge or crest of a mountain.[7][8]

Word family

  • eggja
  • eggjabroddr
  • sverðsegg
  • øxaregg
  • breiðøxaregg

Descendants

  • Icelandic egg[1]
  • Faroese egg[1]
  • Norwegian Nynorsk egg[1]
  • Swedish egg[1]
  • Danish æg[1]
  • oddr
  • uggr
  • ǫgn
  • ax

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 17
  3. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 11
  4. ^ a b c d e f Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. egg
  5. ^ a b c de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 94
  6. ^ a b c Dance, Richard; Pons-Sanz, Sara; Schorn, Brittany, eds., The Gersum Project: The Scandinavian Influence on English Vocabulary, gersum.org, p. s.v. egg
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. egg
  8. ^ a b c d e Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. egg
  9. ^ a b c d e Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 116
  10. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  11. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 655 XXX 4to
  12. ^ a b c Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. egg
  13. ^ a b Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 101
  14. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 4
  15. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 3
  16. ^ Torp, Alf (1909), Wortschatz der germanischen Spracheinheit (Fick, Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der indogermanischen Sprachen, 4th ed., vol. 3), Göttingen, p. 8
  17. ^ Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 773
  18. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Altnordisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary database copy), p. s.v. egg
  19. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 619 4to
  20. ^ Falk, Hjalmar (1914), Altnordische Waffenkunde, Kristiania, p. 116
  21. ^ Hertzberg, Ebbe (1895), Glossarium, in Norges gamle Love indtil 1387, vol. 5, Christiania, p. 145
  22. ^ Hellquist, Elof (1922), Svensk etymologisk ordbok, Lund, p. s.v. egg
  23. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 243 bα fol
  24. ^ a b Faulkes, Anthony (2011), A New Introduction to Old Norse III: Glossary and Index of Names, 4th ed., London: Viking Society for Northern Research, p. s.v. egg

Related etymologies

  • visk · also from Proto-Germanic
  • klubba · also from Proto-Germanic
  • hǫggva · also from Proto-Germanic
  • taka · also from Proto-Germanic
  • garðr · also from Proto-Germanic
  • geta · also from Proto-Germanic
  • draga · also from Proto-Germanic
  • flatr · also from Proto-Germanic
Cite this entry

“Egg.” Etymologically, 13 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/non/egg. Accessed 13 Nov. 2026.

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