geta

Forms

geta (singular past indicative gat, plural past indicative gátu, past participle getinn) (strong)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *getaną (“to get, seize”),^[1][2] the verb behind Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐌲𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (bigitan, “to find”), Old English bigitan (“to obtain”), Old Saxon bigetan (“to seize”) and Old High German bigezzan (“to obtain”).^[2][3] The same verb with another prefix gave the words for “forget”: Old English forgietan, Old Saxon fargetan and Old High German firgezzan.^[3][4]

Outside Germanic the root is Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- (“to grasp, seize”), with a nasalised variant *gʰend-, the source of Latin prehendō (“to lay hold of”) and praeda (“booty”) and of Ancient Greek χανδάνω (khandánō, “to hold, contain”).^[5][2][6] Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon suggests that some of the Norse senses preserve prefixes the verb later lost: “mention, guess” an old *an-getan, “beget” perhaps a *bi-getan, and “get, like” an *and-getan.^[5] de Vries refers the history of the senses to Rooth's study of 1926.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record in ONP is in the Elucidarius of about 1175, in the sense “beget”, said of the Son: hann es sua geteɴ af feþr sem scin af solo “he is begotten of the Father as brightness is of the sun”.^[7] The Icelandic Homily Book of about 1200 has the same sense, mǽren gat iesum af gipt ens helga anda “the Virgin conceived Jesus by the gift of the Holy Spirit”, and also the sense “obtain”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

ONP orders the senses from “create, bring forth” and “beget, conceive” (of men, women, gods and animals alike) through “guess, suppose” and “mention” to “get, obtain”, “learn” and, with a past participle, “be able to”.^[7][8] The genitive marks the senses “mention” and “guess”, the accusative “get”.^[1][9] The auxiliary use with a past participle, ek get eigi fylgt yðr “I cannot follow you”,^[8] has become the ordinary Icelandic way of saying “be able to”.^[5]

The verb continues as Icelandic geta and Faroese gita; the Swedish verb gitta narrowed to “bring oneself to”.^[5][10] The English verb get was borrowed from it around 1200.^[11][12][3]

Timeline

• 1175 – geteɴ “begotten” in the Elucidarius, ONP's first dated record.^[7]
• 1200 – gat “conceived” and the sense “obtain” in the Icelandic Homily Book.^[7]
• 1200–1225 – getr, gat, getinn in the manuscripts AM 619 4to and AM 677 4to.^[13][14]
• c. 1200 – the English verb get, from the Norse verb.^[11]
• 1265 – the noun geta “guess”, first dated in ONP.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. to create, bring forth.^[7][15]
2. to beget, conceive or bear a child, said of either parent.^[7][8]
3. to get as a wife.^[7][16]
4. with genitive: to guess, suppose, expect.^[7][9]
5. with genitive: to mention, speak of.^[7][9]
6. with accusative: to get, obtain.^[7][8]
7. to procure, provide something for someone.^[7][15]
8. to learn.^[7][8]
9. to heed, keep in mind.^[7]
10. with a past participle: to be able, manage to do.^[7][8]
11. (mediopassive) getask at: to like, be pleased with.^[8][5]

Word family

• get
• getnaðr
• getning
• sanngetall
• endrgeta
• samgeta

Descendants

• Icelandic geta^[1]
• Faroese gita^[1]
• Norwegian Nynorsk gjeta^[1]
• Old Swedish gita^[1]
• Swedish gitta^[1]
• Old Danish gitæ^[1]
• Danish gide^[1]
• Middle English geten (→ English get)^[1][12]

Related words

• gáta
• gát
• gæta
• giska

Usage notes

A weak feminine noun geta “guess, conjecture; mention”, derived from the verb, is first dated in ONP in a fragment of 1265 and is mostly found in phrases such as leiða getum um e-t “to make guesses about something”.^[7][2][17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 133
3. ^ a b c d de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 165
4. ^ Torp, Alf (1909), Wortschatz der germanischen Spracheinheit (Fick, Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der indogermanischen Sprachen, 4th ed., vol. 3), Göttingen, p. 123
5. ^ a b c d e Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. geta
6. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. geta
8. ^ a b c d e f g Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. geta
9. ^ a b c 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. geta
10. ^ Hellquist, Elof (1922), Svensk etymologisk ordbok, Lund, p. s.v. gitta
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
13. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 619 4to
14. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 677 4to
15. ^ a b Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. geta
16. ^ Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 195
17. ^ Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 198