gaddr

Forms

gaddr m (genitive gadds, plural gaddar)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *gazdaz (“prickle, goad”),^[2][3] whose other descendants are Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌶𐌳𐍃 (gazds, “sting, goad”), Old Saxon gard (“rod”) and Old High German gart (“prickle”).^[3][4] The Old Norse ⟨dd⟩ is the regular outcome of Germanic /zd/, which Noreen dates to about 950 at the latest.^[5]

Outside Germanic, Kroonen gives the formally identical Old Irish gat (“withe, osier”) from Proto-Indo-European *gʰazdʰ-o-, and beside it Latin hasta (“spear-shaft”) and Old Irish gas (“sprig”), which point to a variant with a voiceless dental; he calls the set an isogloss shared by Germanic and Celtic.^[3] Because of this irregular variation and the narrow spread, Wiktionary considers a non-Indo-European substrate source likely.^[2] Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon suggests, with a question mark, a root Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰes- (“to prick”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated records are in the Strengleikar, which ONP dates 1270 and Menota's manuscript DG 4–7 1260–1290: let hann skyndilega gera gadda af iarni. ok stæla oddana alla “he quickly had spikes made of iron and had all their points steeled”, set before a window; one of them pierced the body of the one who came flying in.^[7][7][8]

Semantic evolution

The main sense is a spike or barb;^[7] ONP also has one record of “rivet”.^[7] Cleasby and Vigfússon add “sting” from the Alexanders saga, of a scorpion,^[9] and the word appears in compounds for weapons with spikes, such as gaddhjalt and gaddakylfa.^[9][10] In Njáls saga the phrase var mjǫk í gadda slegit “it was all but nailed down” means that a matter was as good as settled.^[7][1]

The word continues as Icelandic gaddur, Norwegian Nynorsk gadd and Swedish gadd;^[11][12] Middle English gad and English gad “goad” are from the Norse word.^[12][11]

Timeline

• 1260–1290 – gadda, gaddarnir “the spikes” in the Strengleikar manuscript DG 4–7.^[8][7]
• 1312 – the phrase mjǫk í gadda slegit in Njáls saga.^[7]
• 1355 – gaddr “spike” in the Alexanders saga.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. a spike, goad, barb.^[7][1]
2. a rivet or nail.^[7]
3. a sting, of a scorpion.^[9]

Word family

• gaddhjalt
• gaddakylfa
• járngaddr
• stálgaddr
• saumgaddr

Descendants

• Icelandic gaddur^[2]
• Norwegian Nynorsk gadd^[2]
• Norwegian Bokmål gadd^[2]
• Swedish gadd^[12]
• Danish gad^[11]
• Middle English gadde^[2]
• English gad^[12]

Related words

• gadda

Usage notes

Wiktionary's sense “hard snow” belongs to a different word, gaddr “hard-trodden snow, a trodden track”, which de Vries, Köbler and Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon treat separately and derive, after Torp, from a root meaning “to gape, crack with drought”.^{[11][13][6][14]}

References

1. ^ a b c Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. gaddr
2. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
3. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 172
4. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 129
5. ^ Noreen, Adolf (1923), Altisländische und altnorwegische Grammatik, 4th ed., Halle, p. § 224
6. ^ a b Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. gaddur
7. ^ 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. gaddr
8. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. DG 4–7
9. ^ a b c Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 186
10. ^ Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 179
11. ^ a b c d de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 151
12. ^ a b c d Hellquist, Elof (1922), Svensk etymologisk ordbok, Lund, p. s.v. gadd
13. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Altnordisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary database copy), p. s.v. gaddr
14. ^ Torp, Alf (1909), Wortschatz der germanischen Spracheinheit (Fick, Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der indogermanischen Sprachen, 4th ed., vol. 3), Göttingen, p. 132