ekla

Forms

ekla f (genitive eklu)^[1][2]

Etymology

It is a noun from Old Norse ekl (“scanty, scarce”), an adjective of poetry, beside the adverb ⟨ekla⟩ “scarcely”.^[3][4][5] Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon and de Vries compare Old High German ekorodo (“only”) and Latin egeō (“I lack”), and Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon adds Faroese ekla (“to be stingy”).^[5][3] De Vries also reports Sturtevant's view that ⟨ekla⟩ could stand for an older ⟨*ekkla⟩, from Proto-Germanic *ainkilōn, related to Middle Low German enkel (“single”).^[3] Köbler gives no Proto-Germanic form.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The noun is first dated in the Norwegian fragment NRA norr fragm 58 C of 1250–1270, with eklu and æclu.^[7] ONP dates the passage to 1265: en vér hǫfum þá vetr oc æclu sólar gangs “but we then have winter and a lack of the sun's course”, said of the people in the north while those in the south have summer.^[8] Larsson also records it among the oldest Icelandic manuscripts.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Cleasby and Vigfússon call the word rare in the old writers, but common in Icelandic compounds such as hey-ekla “scarcity of hay” and matar-ekla “dearth of food”.^[2][10] In poetry af eklu and eigi eklu mean “in full measure, not sparingly”, and the compound sumlekla is a dearth of drink.^[11][12] The adverb ekla “sparingly” is recorded in a saga text dated 1475: þeir Helgi tóku ekla til matar um kveldit “Helgi and his men ate sparingly in the evening”.^[8] The noun survives as Icelandic ekla “lack”.^[10]

Timeline

• 1250–1270 – eklu, æclu in NRA norr fragm 58 C.^[7]
• 1270–1280 – æclu in AM 243 bα fol.^[13]
• 1475 – the adverb ekla “sparingly”.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. dearth, want, lack.^[1][8][2]

Adverb

1. scarcely, sparingly.^[8][2][14]

Word family

• sumlekla

Descendants

• Icelandic ekla^[10]

Related words

• ekl

Usage notes

Ekla is also the name of a river in the þulur,^[11][12] and the poem Vellekla “dearth of gold” is named with it.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. ekla
2. ^ a b c d e Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 125
3. ^ a b c de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 99
4. ^ Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. ekl
5. ^ a b Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. ekl
6. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Altnordisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary database copy), p. s.v. ekla
7. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. NRA norr fragm 58 C
8. ^ a b c d e Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. ekla
9. ^ Larsson, Ludvig (1891), Ordförrådet i de älsta islänska handskrifterna, Lund: Ph. Lindstedt, p. 63
10. ^ a b c Sigfús Blöndal (1920–1924), Islandsk-dansk ordbog, Reykjavík, p. 162
11. ^ a b Finnur Jónsson (1931), Lexicon Poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, 2nd ed., Copenhagen: S. L. Møller, p. 106
12. ^ a b Sveinbjörn Egilsson (1860), Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, Hafniæ: Societas regia antiquariorum septentrionalium, p. 130
13. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 243 bα fol
14. ^ Hægstad, Marius; Torp, Alf (1909), Gamalnorsk ordbok med nynorsk tyding, Kristiania: Det norske samlaget, p. 68