kynda

Forms

kynda v (past tense kynda, past participle kyndr), weak verb^[1] Early spellings include cvndi, kvndeſc and cvndaſc in AM 677 4to.^[2] Later the past participle is also written kynt, and Cleasby and Vigfússon note a modern past tense in -t.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *kundijaną (“to light up, kindle”),^[5] and ONP refers to Kroonen's reconstruction of the same verb.^[3] Its nearest relatives are Middle High German künten and künden (“to kindle”), with an ablaut form in Norwegian Nynorsk kvenda and Bavarian kenden (“to heat”).^[6][7]

De Vries finds no counterparts outside Germanic.^[6] Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon sets up Germanic roots Proto-Germanic *kunð- and *kwenð- and, with doubt, Proto-Indo-European *ǵuen-dh-, perhaps related to kol (“coal”) and to Sanskrit ज्वलति (jválati, “burns, glows”), but calls the further connection uncertain.^[7] Both dictionaries put kyndill (“torch, candle”) and the poetic fire-name kyndr beside the verb.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Menota first records the verb in the fragment NRA norr fragm 81 B, dated 1150–1250, in the form kyndum.^[8] IcePaHC dates its first token, kyndist, to 1150 in the Icelandic Homily Book,^[9] which ONP dates to about 1200 and quotes in a figurative use: ef guþs ástar eldr kyndesc i hiortom órom “if the fire of God's love is kindled in our hearts”.^[3] The literal sense is in a text ONP dates to the same year: með kyndum kertum “with lighted candles”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The verb is used of lighting a fire, a beacon or an oven,^[4][1] and early on in a figurative sense, of the Holy Spirit kindling the fire of love in the apostles' hearts.^[3][10] Fritzner gives it the sense “to spur on, incite” as well, matching Latin stimulare.^[10] ONP's genre table shows it most often in religious works and in the legendary sagas.^[3] In the poetry it takes fire-words as objects (kynda eld, kynda funa, kynda bál), and in a kenning kynda elda bǫðvar Týs “to kindle the fires of Odin”, that is, to wield swords.^[11]

It continues as Icelandic kynda and Faroese kynda and in Norwegian and Swedish dialects.^[6][7] De Vries, after Björkman, traces Middle English kinnen and dialectal English kin to it,^[6] and Etymonline derives kindle from a Scandinavian source akin to it, with a frequentative suffix.^[12]

Timeline

• 1150–1250 – kyndum in the fragment NRA norr fragm 81 B.^[8]
• 1150 – kyndist in the Icelandic Homily Book, by IcePaHC's dating.^[9]
• 1200 – kyndesc “is kindled”, of the fire of God's love, in the Icelandic Homily Book, by ONP's dating.^[3]
• 1200–1225 – kyndi, kyndisk and kynda in AM 677 4to.^[2]
• 1237 – the phrase kynda bál or kynda eld “to light a fire”, by ONP's dating.^[3]
• 1250–1300 – kyndiz in the Vǫluspá text of GKS 2365 4to.^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. to kindle or light a fire, a beacon or an oven.^[3][1][4]
2. (figurative) to kindle, inflame or stir up (love, strife).^[3][10][11]
3. (reflexive, kyndask) to be kindled, catch fire; figuratively, to be inflamed.^[3][4][14]

Word family

• íkynda

Descendants

• Icelandic kynda^[6]
• Faroese kynda^[6]
• Norwegian Nynorsk kynda^[7]

Related words

• kyndill
• kyndr

Usage notes

In the Vǫluspá line mjǫtuðr kyndisk at enu gamla Gjallarhorni the sense is disputed: Gering takes kyndask as “to break out, begin”,^[15] Neckel as the onset of the world's end, with a query,^[16] while Finnur Jónsson keeps it under this verb as “to be kindled”.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. kynda
2. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 677 4to
3. ^ 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. kynda
4. ^ a b c d Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 366
5. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
6. ^ a b c d e f g de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 340
7. ^ a b c d e Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. kynda
8. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. NRA norr fragm 81 B
9. ^ a b Wallenberg, Joel C.; Ingason, Anton Karl; Sigurðsson, Einar Freyr; Rögnvaldsson, Eiríkur, Icelandic Parsed Historical Corpus, version 0.9
10. ^ a b c Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. kynda
11. ^ a b c Finnur Jónsson (1931), Lexicon Poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, 2nd ed., Copenhagen: S. L. Møller, p. 354
12. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
13. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. GKS 2365 4to
14. ^ Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 354
15. ^ Gering, Hugo (1903), Vollständiges Wörterbuch zu den Liedern der Edda, Halle: Waisenhaus, p. col. 592
16. ^ Neckel, Gustav (1927), Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius, vol. 2: Kommentierendes Glossar, Heidelberg, p. 96