koma

Forms

koma (singular past indicative kom, plural past indicative kómu, past participle kominn) (irregular strong)^[1] Viking Age runic past kuam (kvam)^[2] and plural kuamu (kvámu),^[3] present kumbr (kemr).^[4] Old Norwegian also has kuma.^[5] Cleasby and Vigfússon call the preterite plural kvámu the oldest form, before kómu and the latest komu.^[6] A verb of the fourth ablaut class, with present kem.^[7]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *kwemaną (“to come”),^[1][8] the strong verb also seen in Gothic 𐌵𐌹𐌼𐌰𐌽 (qiman), Old English cuman, Old Frisian kuma, Old Saxon kuman and Old High German queman.^[9][10] Kroonen reconstructs two ablaut variants of the Germanic verb, with ⟨e⟩ and with ⟨u⟩ in the root.^[9] He thinks the pair more likely goes back to a root aorist than to an old athematic present.^[9]

The Indo-European root is Proto-Indo-European *gʷem- (“to step, come”),^[1][11] seen in Latin veniō (“to come”), Ancient Greek βαίνω (baínō, “to go”) and Tocharian A kum- (“to come”).^[8][9][12] Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon notes a related root *gʷā- that does not appear in Germanic.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest dated record is the Swedish stone G 280 from Pilgårds, which Rundata dates to the later tenth century or about 1000: Kvámu vítt í Eifor “they came far, into Eifor”.^[3] The Swedish stone U 1016, of the early eleventh century, says of a captain's son kvam hann Grikkhafnir “he came to the harbours of Greece”.^[14] In the manuscripts ONP's first citation, of 1175, is the reflexive komask “get away”: þat es hann comsc a braut forþom ór miklom hasca “that he once got away out of great danger”.^[15]

Semantic evolution

The basic sense is to come or arrive; impersonally it means to come about, as in kom svá, at … “it came to pass that …”.^[16][17] With a dative object the verb becomes causative, “to bring, carry, put”: koma e-m í hel “to put someone to death”, koma kristni á “to bring in Christianity”.^[16][15] Hellquist notes that the early Nordic languages used it transitively in this way.^[18] The middle komask means to get somewhere, or to get away.^[19][15] With prepositions it has many idioms, among them koma á “to strike” of a blow.^[20]

The verb lives on as Icelandic koma, Swedish komma and Danish komme.^[13][18] The feminine noun koma “arrival” is made from it and was mixed with kváma.^[13]

Timeline

• 950–1000 – kuamu (kvámu) on the Pilgårds stone G 280, “later tenth century to about 1000”.^[3]
• early 11th century – kuam (kvam) on the runestone U 1016.^[14]
• 1175 – comsc a braut “got away”, ONP's first manuscript citation.^[15]
• 1192 – keomr “comes”.^[15]
• 1200–1225 – kømr, kominn, komask in AM 677 4to.^[21]
• 1305–1325 – the old preterite kuam still on the Swedish inscription G 158 in Gothem church.^[22]

Meanings

Verb

1. to come, arrive, reach a place.^[16][17]
2. (impersonal) to come about, happen, turn out.^[16][17]
3. with the dative: to bring, carry, move or put (something or someone somewhere).^[15][16]
4. with the dative: to introduce, establish (koma kristni á).^[15]
5. with á: to strike, hit (of a blow or missile).^[20]
6. komask: to make one's way, get somewhere; to escape.^[19][15]

Word family

• tilkoma
• ákoma
• komumaðr

Descendants

• Icelandic koma^[1]
• Faroese koma^[1]
• Norn cumma^[1]
• Norwegian Nynorsk koma^[1]
• Old Swedish koma^[1]
• Swedish komma^[1]
• Old Danish komæ^[1]
• Danish komme^[1]

Related words

• kváma
• kvæmr
• kund

Usage notes

A feminine noun koma “arrival” has the same spelling; it is formed from the verb.^[23][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Peterson, Lena (2006), Svenskt runordsregister, 3rd rev. ed., Runrön 2, Uppsala: Institutionen för nordiska språk
3. ^ a b c Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata 3.1), Uppsala universitet (inscriptions by signum), p. G 280
4. ^ Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata 3.1), Uppsala universitet (inscriptions by signum), p. Vs 24
5. ^ Noreen, Adolf (1923), Altisländische und altnorwegische Grammatik, 4th ed., Halle, p. § 61
6. ^ Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 348
7. ^ Noreen, Adolf (1923), Altisländische und altnorwegische Grammatik, 4th ed., Halle, p. § 496
8. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 227
9. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 316
10. ^ Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 229
11. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *kwemaną
12. ^ de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 325
13. ^ a b c d Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. koma
14. ^ a b Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata 3.1), Uppsala universitet (inscriptions by signum), p. U 1016
15. ^ a b c d e f g h Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. koma
16. ^ a b c d e Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. koma
17. ^ a b c Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 333
18. ^ a b Hellquist, Elof (1922), Svensk etymologisk ordbok, Lund, p. s.v. komma
19. ^ a b Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. koma
20. ^ a b Möbius, Theodor (1866), Altnordisches Glossar, Leipzig: Teubner, p. 236
21. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 677 4to
22. ^ Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata 3.1), Uppsala universitet (inscriptions by signum), p. G 158
23. ^ Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 350