kaggi

Forms

kaggi m^[1] A strong by-form kaggr occurs in compounds such as vínkaggr “wine keg”.^[2][3] ONP records the spellings kagge, kagga, kaggi and an abbreviated k°gi.^[4]

Etymology

Its origin is not clear.^[5][2][6] The word has close relatives only in the Nordic languages: Faroese kaggi, Norwegian kagge (“keg; stack”) and Swedish kagge (“small barrel”).^[2][5] Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon suggests that it is related to kagi, with the first sense perhaps a hollowed tree trunk.^[5] Wiktionary derives it from a Germanic base Proto-Germanic *kagô (“bush, branch, stalk, stump”), found also in dialectal German Kag (“cabbage stalk, stump”), with a diminutive suffix.^[1] De Vries considers joining it to Middle Dutch kāke (“pillory”) and an Indo-European base meaning “branch, stake, bush”, with a vessel of wickerwork behind the sense, but concludes that no more than uncertain guesses are possible.^[2] Holthausen asks whether Old English ċeacga (“broom, gorse”) belongs here.^[7]

Beside it stands kakki, recorded only in the compound vatnkakki (“water vessel”); de Vries and Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon both leave open how the two are connected.^[2][8] Hellquist connects the word with kǫggull and suggests a basic sense of something rounded or heaped up.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record, from 1192, is the abbreviated k°gi in a glossary that ONP cites as GlossCod1812, glossed “small barrel, pot”;^[4][10] Larsson lists the same form among the oldest Icelandic manuscripts.^[4][10]

Semantic evolution

In the medieval record the word is used more often as a nickname than as a common noun: a Norwegian charter of 1331 names an Aslakr kagge, and fourteenth-century manuscripts of the Sturlunga saga texts name a priest Þorarinn kaggi.^[4][11] Cox notes that Old Norse has it as a common noun mainly in the compounds of kaggr.^[12]

In modern Icelandic kaggi is a small open barrel, for example for fish oil or tar, and also an old-fashioned hat lower than the usual high one.^[13][5] Middle English kag (“small barrel”) is taken from Norse by the MED and Etymonline, and gave English keg;^[14][6] Hellquist and de Vries allow that the English word may not be a loan.^[9][2] Cox rejects a Norse origin for Scottish Gaelic ceig “clot, mass of shag” as unlikely.^[12]

Timeline

• 1192 – k°gi “small barrel, pot” in the glossary GlossCod1812.^[4]
• 1331 – Aslakr kagge, a nickname, in a Norwegian charter (DN V).^[4]
• 1360 – Þorarinn prestr kaggi in a manuscript of the Sturlunga texts.^[4]
• mid-15th century – Middle English kag “small barrel”, the source of English keg.^[14][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. a keg, cask, small barrel.^[15][4][16]
2. a pot or basin.^[4][1]
3. a nickname.^[15][11]

Descendants

• Icelandic kaggi^[1]
• Faroese kaggi^[1]
• Swedish kagge^[1]
• Middle English kag (English keg)^[14][6]

Related words

• kaggr
• kakki
• kagi
• kǫggull

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 297
3. ^ Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. kaggr
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. kaggi
5. ^ a b c d Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. kaggi
6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 44
8. ^ Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. kakki
9. ^ a b Hellquist, Elof (1922), Svensk etymologisk ordbok, Lund, p. s.v. kagge
10. ^ a b Larsson, Ludvig (1891), Ordförrådet i de älsta islänska handskrifterna, Lund: Ph. Lindstedt, p. 179
11. ^ a b Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. kaggi
12. ^ a b Cox, Richard A. V. (2024–2026), Old Norse Loan-Words in Scottish Gaelic, Clann Tuirc, richardavcox.scot/ONlwSG, p. s.v. ceig
13. ^ Sigfús Blöndal (1920–1924), Islandsk-dansk ordbog, Reykjavík, p. 416
14. ^ a b c 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)
15. ^ a b Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. kaggi
16. ^ Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 329