gráta

Forms

gráta (strong)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *grētaną (“to wail, weep”),^[1][2] a strong verb with reduplicating preterite (⟨grét⟩).^[3][4] The same verb is Gothic 𐌲𐍂𐌴𐍄𐌰𐌽 (grētan, “to weep”), Old English grǣtan and Old Saxon grātan.^[2][5][6]

Kroonen reconstructs a present Proto-Indo-European *gʰréh₁d-e-,^[2] while Orel calls the verb of unknown origin.^[5] Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon takes the first meaning to have been “to cry out, shout”, as in the related causative of Old English grētan (“to address, greet”) and Old High German gruozen (“to call to, greet”), and calls a link with an Old Indic verb “to sound” uncertain;^[7] de Vries likewise starts from loud weeping and compares a Dutch dialect shift from “to shout” to “to weep”.^[8] Hellquist sees in it one of several sound-imitating words in ⟨gr-⟩.^[9] The Pokorny root given for it is Proto-Indo-European *gʰer- (“to snarl, rattle”).^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is in the Icelandic Homily Book, dated 1200 by ONP, in the Beatitude sǽler ero þeir es gráta þuiat þeir mono huggasc “blessed are those who weep, for they will be comforted”.^[11] The same manuscript already has the transitive use “to mourn for”, and the phrase gráta synd “to weep for one's sin”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

ONP separates the intransitive “weep, lament” from the transitive “bewail, mourn (someone or something)”;^[11][12][4] Cleasby and Vigfússon and Zoëga make the same division.^[11][12][4] The present participle grátandi and the past participle grátinn “tear-stained, in tears” are common.^[11][13] In the poetry the verb is used of Freyja's golden tears and of the attempt to weep Baldr out of Hel.^[14][12] ONP's genre table shows it most often in religious works, and not at all in the laws or the charters.^[11]

It lives on as Icelandic gráta, Swedish gråta and Danish græde.^[7][9] De Vries derives a Middle English verb “to weep” from the Norse word,^[8] and Cleasby and Vigfússon note greet “weep” in northern English and Scots.^[12] In German and English the verb itself was replaced by weinen and weep.^[9]

Timeline

• 1200 – gráta “weep” and gráta synd in the Icelandic Homily Book.^[11]
• 1200–1225 – grata, grætr, gret in AM 619 4to.^[15]
• 1200–1225 – gráta, grét, grátandi in AM 677 4to.^[16]
• 1250–1300 – grét in the text of Vǫluspá in GKS 2365 4to.^[17]

Meanings

Verb

1. to weep, cry, lament.^[11][4]
2. (transitive) to bewail, mourn for someone or something;^[11][12] gráta syndir sínar to weep for one's sins.^[11][12]

Word family

• grátr
• græta
• grátandi
• grátinn
• grátfagr

Descendants

• Icelandic gráta^[1]
• Faroese gráta^[1]
• Norwegian Bokmål gråte^[1]
• Norwegian gråta^[1]
• Old Swedish grāta^[1]
• Swedish gråta^[1]
• Old Danish grǣtæ^[1]
• Danish græde^[1]

Usage notes

ONP has a rare feminine noun gráta, in the plural grátur “steps (before an altar or a high seat)”, recorded about 1500; it is a separate word.^[11][18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 187
3. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
4. ^ a b c d Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. gráta
5. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 142
6. ^ Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. gráta
8. ^ a b de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 185
9. ^ a b c Hellquist, Elof (1922), Svensk etymologisk ordbok, Lund, p. s.v. gråta
10. ^ Slocum, Jonathan, ed., Indo-European Lexicon (after Pokorny), Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas at Austin, p. s.v. gráta
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. gráta
12. ^ a b c d e f Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 212
13. ^ Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 208
14. ^ Finnur Jónsson (1931), Lexicon Poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, 2nd ed., Copenhagen: S. L. Møller, p. 201
15. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 619 4to
16. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 677 4to
17. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. GKS 2365 4to
18. ^ Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. gráta