félagi

Forms

félagi m (genitive félaga, plural félagar) (weak an-stem)^[1] Viking Age runic accusative felaga, felaha, felha, filuka and fRlaka on Swedish runestones.^[2] filakr on the Norwegian runic inscription N 121.^[3]

Etymology

It is formed from Old Norse félag (“partnership, joint property”) + -i, a weak masculine meaning the one who shares in the partnership.^[4][5][1] The noun félag is a compound from Old Norse fé (“property, money”) + lag (“laying down”), the second part from leggja (“to lay”), so its first sense was a pooling of property.^[5][6] Cleasby and Vigfússon gloss it accordingly as a “fee-layer”, one who lays down money with another.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Viking Age runestones in Sweden already have the accusative felaga and its variants, of a partner or comrade, among them U 391: eptir Albóð, félaga Slóða “in memory of Albóð, Slóði's partner”, raised by Frisian guild-brothers.^[2][8] The first dated record is a Norwegian runic inscription of 1170–1190, N 121: Þórulfr gerði kirkju þessa, en Geirsteinn var félagi “Þórulfr built this church, and Geirsteinn was his partner”.^[3][9] In the manuscripts ONP's first citation is from 1225, a form of address: hverr ertv felagi sagþi hann “who are you, fellow? he said”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The legal sense came first in the dictionaries' order: a partner in jointly held property, especially in trade, and the members of a ship's company who shared their food.^[7][11] The Icelandic law code Grágás also uses it of a husband or wife, as the partner in a marriage.^[7][10] From the partner came the companion and comrade, already in Hávamál, where the speaker wins himself a félagi with half a loaf and a half-empty cup.^[7][12]

It lives on as Icelandic félagi, Faroese felagi and Danish fælle.^[4][5] It was borrowed into late Old English as fēolaga, the source of English fellow, first recorded about 1200 in the sense “companion, comrade”.^[4][6]

Timeline

• Viking Age – felaga and related spellings on Swedish runestones.^[2]
• 1170–1190 – Geirsteinn var félagi on the Norwegian runic inscription N 121.^[3]
• 1200–1225 – felagar and felagum in the Norwegian AM 619 4to.^[13]
• 1225 – hverr ertv felagi “who are you, fellow?” in ONP's ÓHÆ.^[10]
• 1250 – félagi “spouse” and “partner” in Grágás.^[10]
• About 1200 – English fellow “companion”, from the Old Norse word through Old English.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. a partner, shareholder in joint property, especially in trade.^[14][15]
2. (law) a marriage partner, husband or wife.^[14][7]
3. a fellow, comrade, companion.^[14][16]

Word family

• leikfélagi
• rekkjufélagi
• samfélagi
• hvílufélagi
• félagaerfð

Descendants

• Icelandic félagi^[1]
• Faroese felagi^[4]
• Danish fælle^[1]
• Old English fēolaga (→ English fellow)^[6][4]

Related words

• fé
• lag
• leggja

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Peterson, Lena (2006), Svenskt runordsregister, 3rd rev. ed., Runrön 2, Uppsala: Institutionen för nordiska språk
3. ^ a b c Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. N 121
4. ^ a b c d e de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 116
5. ^ a b c Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. félag
6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 150
8. ^ Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata 3.1), Uppsala universitet (inscriptions by signum), p. U 391
9. ^ Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata 3.1), Uppsala universitet (inscriptions by signum), p. N 121
10. ^ a b c d Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. félagi
11. ^ Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. félagi
12. ^ Gering, Hugo (1915), Glossar zu den Liedern der Edda, 4th ed., Paderborn, p. 47
13. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 619 4to
14. ^ a b c Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. félagi
15. ^ A Lexicon of Medieval Nordic Law, Digital Humanities Institute, University of Sheffield, p. s.v. félagi
16. ^ 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. félagi