fastr

Forms

fastr adj (feminine fǫst, neuter fast)^[1][2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *fastuz (“firm, solid”),^[3][4] originally a u-stem adjective, which West Germanic remodelled as a ja-stem.^[4][5] Its cognates are Old English fæst, Old Frisian fest, Old Saxon fast and Old High German festi.^[4][6] The same stem underlies the verb fasta (“to fast”) and its counterpart Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌽 (fastan).^[4][7]

Outside Germanic the one secure match is Old Armenian հաստ (hast, “firm”).^[4][6] Kroonen sets up a root Proto-Indo-European *pHst-, which he explains as a compound of *peh₂ǵ- (“to become firm”), the root of Ancient Greek πήγνυμι (pḗgnumi, “to fasten, make solid”), and *steh₂- (“to stand”), and he gives up the old comparison with Sanskrit पस्त्य (pastyá, “homestead”),^[4] which de Vries, Torp and Falk and Torp still make.^[6][7][8] Pokorny's root is *pasto- (“firm”).^[9] Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon reviews these proposals and calls them all uncertain.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

ONP's first dated records are from the Icelandic Homily Book of about 1200, where the neuter is already used as an adverb: réynom til. hve fast haɴ halldi vinóttoɴi viþ mic “let us try how firmly he holds to his friendship with me”.^[10] In Menota it first appears in the manuscripts AM 619 4to and AM 677 4to of 1200–1225.^[11][12] Larsson lists fastr, fastan and fast among the oldest Icelandic manuscripts.^[13]

Semantic evolution

The basic sense is “fixed, immovable, stuck fast”, as in fastr á velli “standing firm in battle”.^[10][14] From it come “bound, unfree”, used of a thrall tied to the land (fastr á fótum) and of a debtor held until he has worked off what he owes,^[15][16] and “close-fisted”, first dated about 1225.^[10][1] A promise or a truce that is fast is binding and valid, and Hertzberg gives the legal uses such as fast kaup “a binding bargain”.^[1][16] The laws and charters contrast fast and lauss for real estate and movable goods, as in í fǫstu ok lausu.^[10][15] In grammar a syllable ending in a double consonant is fast atkvæði.^[14]

The word continues as Icelandic fastur and Faroese fastur.^[5] In Swedish the adverb fast “very” is native, while the sense “almost” came from German,^[17] and Falk and Torp say the same of Norwegian and Danish.^[8]

Timeline

• 1200 – hve fast “how firmly” in the Icelandic Homily Book.^[10]
• 1200–1225 – fastr and fast in the manuscripts AM 619 4to and AM 677 4to.^[11][12]
• 1212 – the sense “bound, unfree”.^[10]
• 1225 – the sense “close-fisted, sparing”.^[10]
• 1250 – the sense “valid, binding” in a text of the Icelandic laws.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. fast, firm, immovable; stuck fast.^[10][1]
2. bound, unfree, of a thrall or a debtor.^[15][16]
3. close-fisted, sparing.^[1][18]
4. of a meeting: in session.^[1][14]
5. firm, faithful, binding, of a promise, truce or bargain.^[1][16]
6. continuous, of a stretch of days.^[18]
7. strong, hard, of a fight.^[1]
8. (law) of property: real, immovable, as opposed to movables.^[10][15]
9. (grammar) of a syllable: ending in a double consonant.^[14]

Adverb

1. neuter fast: firmly, tightly; hard, vigorously.^[2][19]

Word family

• fasta
• fastna
• festa
• staðfastr
• trúfastr
• vinfastr
• geðfastr
• samfastr
• áfastr
• griðfastr
• jafnfastr

Descendants

• Icelandic fastur^[3]
• Faroese fastur^[3]
• Norwegian Nynorsk fast^[3]
• Swedish fast^[3]
• Danish fast^[3]

Usage notes

As a personal name, Fastr and names with Fast- and -fastr appear in Swedish runic inscriptions.^[20][6] De Vries counts names such as Fastbjǫrn, Fastólfr and Holmfastr as chiefly East Scandinavian.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. fastr
2. ^ 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. fastr
3. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
4. ^ a b c d e f Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 131
5. ^ a b c Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. fastur
6. ^ a b c d e de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 113
7. ^ a b Torp, Alf (1909), Wortschatz der germanischen Spracheinheit (Fick, Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der indogermanischen Sprachen, 4th ed., vol. 3), Göttingen, p. 239
8. ^ a b Falk, Hjalmar; Torp, Alf (1910–1911), Norwegisch-dänisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg, p. s.v. fast
9. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *fastuz
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. fastr
11. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 619 4to
12. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 677 4to
13. ^ Larsson, Ludvig (1891), Ordförrådet i de älsta islänska handskrifterna, Lund: Ph. Lindstedt, p. 85
14. ^ a b c d Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 145
15. ^ a b c d Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. fastr
16. ^ a b c d Hertzberg, Ebbe (1895), Glossarium, in Norges gamle Love indtil 1387, vol. 5, Christiania, p. 179
17. ^ Hellquist, Elof (1922), Svensk etymologisk ordbok, Lund, p. s.v. fast
18. ^ a b Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 129
19. ^ Finnur Jónsson (1931), Lexicon Poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, 2nd ed., Copenhagen: S. L. Møller, p. 124
20. ^ Peterson, Lena (2007), Nordiskt runnamnslexikon, 5th ed., Uppsala: Institutet för språk och folkminnen, p. 62