fylgja

Forms

fylgja (past fylgði, past participle fylgt), weak verb, with the dative^[1][2] fylgja f (plural fylgjur), weak noun^[3][2] Runic fulkþu “followed” on the Swedish runestone Öl 1.^[4][5]

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Proto-Germanic *fulgijaną (“to follow”),^[2] which Köbler writes *fulgēn.^[6] Its cognates are Old English fylgan and folgian (whence the English word follow), Old Frisian folgia, Old Saxon folgōn and Old High German folgēn;^[7][6][8][9] Gothic has no such verb.^[7][6][8][9]

Its further origin is unknown.^[6][8] Torp joined it to fela (“to hide”), through “cover, shield” to “be in someone's following”; Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon thinks that possible, de Vries thinks it very uncertain, and Hellquist doubts it.^[7][9][8] Others set up a root Proto-Indo-European *pelgʰ- (“to follow”) with Welsh ôl (“track”) and Welsh olaf (“last”), which de Vries prefers and Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon thinks doubtful.^[7][9] Wiktionary takes the Germanic verb as a zero-grade present from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pelk-.^[2] Hellquist rejects a compound with the verb “to go”, which Old High German folagēn might suggest.^[8]

The noun, “companionship” and the attendant spirit, is made from the verb.^[2][9] Some derived its senses “afterbirth” and “guardian spirit” straight from fela, as a protective covering; de Vries and Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon point to words for the afterbirth that mean “what comes after”, such as Norwegian Nynorsk etterferd, which fit a noun of the verb.^[7][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is first dated on the Swedish runestone Öl 1, which Rundata dates to the later tenth century (“V s 900-t”). Its verse has fulkþu, normalised Folginn liggr hinns fylgðu … mestar dæðir “Hidden lies he whom the greatest deeds followed”.^[5][4] The noun first appears in the Icelandic Homily Book, dated 1150 in IcePaHC, as fylgjunnar;^[10][11][12] ONP's first dated passage, of 1220, is of companionship: voro þa iamnan i fylgio meþ petro “they were then always in company with Peter”.^[10][11][12]

Semantic evolution

The verb's core is going with someone; from it grew support in a dispute, service, guiding and escorting (fylgja líki “to follow a body to burial”), living with someone as a concubine, belonging to someone or something, and following advice or a rule.^[12][13][14] The laws use it of a thief caught with the goods: þjófr fylgir eigi “the thief does not go with it”.^[12][15]

The noun's first line of senses is companionship and help, as in Stjórn's í fǫrum ok fylgju “in journeys and company”.^[12][16] The other is the fylgja, the spirit that follows a person or a family, often in the shape of an animal, seen in dreams, and foreboding death when seen awake: Þú munt vera maðr feigr … ok munt þú sét hafa fylgju þína “You must be a doomed man, and you must have seen your fetch”, in Njáls saga.^[12][16][17] Fritzner also records barns fylgja “afterbirth”, the sense that modern Icelandic keeps beside “ghost”.^[18][7]

The verb lives on as Icelandic fylgja, Swedish följa and Danish følge.^[2][8]

Timeline

• Later 10th century – fulkþu “followed” on the runestone Öl 1.^[5][4]
• 1150 – the noun fylgjunnar in the Icelandic Homily Book, by IcePaHC's dating.^[10]
• 1150–1250 – the verb fylgja in the Norwegian fragment NRA norr fragm 81 A.^[19]
• 1180 – fylgði on the Norwegian rune-stick N 148.^[20]
• 1220 – the noun i fylgio meþ petro “in company with Peter”.^[12]
• 1262 – fylgior, the attendant spirits of a young man, in Odd's saga of Óláfr Tryggvason.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. to follow, accompany, go with.^[12][13]
2. to support, side with;^[12][13] fylgja e-m at to take someone's part.^[12][13]
3. to attend, serve.^[12]
4. to stay with, keep close to.^[12][14]
5. to lead, guide, escort;^[12][13] fylgja líki to follow a body to burial.^[12][13]
6. to live with someone as a sexual partner.^[12][14]
7. to belong or pertain to (of a quality or a thing).^[12][13]
8. to pursue (fleeing enemies).^[12][13]
9. to follow, adhere to (advice, a rule, a belief); to practise.^[12][13]
10. to hold as an opinion, claim.^[12]
11. to come after in sequence or as a consequence.^[12]

Noun

1. help, backing.^[12][18]
2. companionship, a following;^[12][16][14] í fylgju með e-m in someone's company.^[12][16][14]
3. (mythology) a fetch in animal shape, an attendant spirit seen in a dream or trance.^[12]
4. (mythology) in the plural fylgjur, the attendant or guardian spirits of a person or family.^[12][16][14]
5. in the plural, destiny.^[12]
6. barns fylgja the afterbirth.^[18][21]

Word family

• fylgð
• fylgi
• fylgjukona
• fylgjuengill
• kynfylgja
• ættarfylgja
• atfylgja
• trúfylgja
• fylgjusamr

Descendants

• Icelandic fylgja^[2]
• Faroese fylgja^[2]
• Norwegian Nynorsk fylgja^[2]
• Old Swedish fylghia^[2]
• Swedish följa^[2]
• Danish følge^[2]

References

1. ^ 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. fylgja
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
3. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Altnordisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary database copy), p. s.v. fylgja
4. ^ a b c Peterson, Lena (2006), Svenskt runordsregister, 3rd rev. ed., Runrön 2, Uppsala: Institutionen för nordiska språk
5. ^ a b c Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata 3.1), Uppsala universitet (inscriptions by signum), p. Öl 1
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *fulgēn
7. ^ a b c d e f de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 147
8. ^ a b c d e f Hellquist, Elof (1922), Svensk etymologisk ordbok, Lund, p. s.v. följa
9. ^ a b c d e f Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. fylgja
10. ^ a b c Wallenberg, Joel C.; Ingason, Anton Karl; Sigurðsson, Einar Freyr; Rögnvaldsson, Eiríkur, Icelandic Parsed Historical Corpus, version 0.9
11. ^ a b Larsson, Ludvig (1891), Ordförrådet i de älsta islänska handskrifterna, Lund: Ph. Lindstedt, p. 98
12. ^ 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 27 Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. fylgja
13. ^ a b c d e f g h i Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. fylgja
14. ^ a b c d e f Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 169
15. ^ Hertzberg, Ebbe (1895), Glossarium, in Norges gamle Love indtil 1387, vol. 5, Christiania, p. 216
16. ^ a b c d e Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 179
17. ^ Gering, Hugo (1915), Glossar zu den Liedern der Edda, 4th ed., Paderborn, p. 56
18. ^ a b c Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. fylgja
19. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. NRA norr fragm 81 A
20. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. N 148
21. ^ Hægstad, Marius; Torp, Alf (1909), Gamalnorsk ordbok med nynorsk tyding, Kristiania: Det norske samlaget, p. 106