gervi

Forms

gervi f (weak īn-stem)^[1] Also written gørvi and gjǫrvi.^[2][3] Zoëga gives the plural gørvar, with feminine gender.^[4] Cleasby and Vigfússon also list a neuter gervi, the gender of the modern Icelandic word.^[5][6]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *garwį̄ (“clothing, equipment”),^[1][2] a noun made to the adjective Proto-Germanic *garwaz (“ready, prepared”),^[1][7] the source of Old Norse gǫrr (“ready”), from which gera (“to make, do”) is formed.^[7][3] Its closest relatives are Old English gearwe (“equipment, clothing”), Old Saxon garuwi, Old High German garawī (“equipment, clothing”) and Middle Low German gerwe (“clothing”).^[8][3][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Old Norwegian homilies of AM 619 4to, which Menota dates 1200–1225 and ONP to 1212: Craftr er gørfi hugar “Virtue is the garb of the mind”.^[10][11] Cleasby and Vigfússon identify the Latin behind it, virtus est animi habitus.^[12]

Semantic evolution

From equipment the word came to mean what one is dressed in, and then the outward guise one puts on: in the Eddic Hárbarðsljóð someone wears brautingja gervi “a beggar's garb”, and in a saga men ride off í kaupmanns gervi “dressed as merchants”.^[13][12] Compounds keep the older sense of equipment: fargervi “luggage, travelling gear”, eykjagervi “harness”, handagervi “gloves”.^[12][14] Modern Icelandic gervi is a costume or dress and an assumed shape, as in bregða sér í fugls gervi “to take on a bird's shape”.^[6]

English gear comes from it through Middle English gere, whose unpalatalised /ɡ/ marks it as Norse.^[15][16] Etymonline allows that Old English gearwe may lie behind some of its uses.^[16]

Timeline

• 1200–1225 – Craftr er gørfi hugar in AM 619 4to.^[11][10]
• c. 1200 – English gear “fighting equipment”, probably from the Norse word.^[16]
• 1330–1370 – gervi in Hallfreðar saga in AM 132 fol.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. gear, equipment, harness.^[4][12][14]
2. apparel, dress, clothing.^[10][18][13]
3. the garb of a particular kind of person, a guise or disguise.^[13][12]

Word family

• fargervi
• handagervi
• eykjagervi

Descendants

• Icelandic gervi^[3]
• Middle English gere^[15]
• English gear^[16][15]

Related words

• gera
• gǫrr

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard, Altnordisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary database copy), p. s.v. gervi
3. ^ a b c d Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. gervi
4. ^ a b Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. gørvi
5. ^ Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 197
6. ^ a b Sigfús Blöndal (1920–1924), Islandsk-dansk ordbog, Reykjavík, p. 249
7. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 170
8. ^ de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 165
9. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
10. ^ a b c Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. gervi
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 c d e Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 226
13. ^ a b c Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. gervi
14. ^ a b Sveinbjörn Egilsson (1860), Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, Hafniæ: Societas regia antiquariorum septentrionalium, p. 234
15. ^ a b c Dance, Richard; Pons-Sanz, Sara; Schorn, Brittany, eds., The Gersum Project: The Scandinavian Influence on English Vocabulary, gersum.org, p. s.v. gere
16. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
17. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 132 fol
18. ^ Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 194