lag

Forms

lag n (genitive lags, plural lǫg) (strong a-stem)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *lagą (“situation; law; settled amount”),^[1] made to the root of liggja and leggja, and meant first “what lies or is laid”.^[2][3] Its West Germanic relatives are Old Saxon aldarlagu (“allotted lifetime”) and gilagu (“destiny”).^[2][4] The root is Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- (“to lie”).^[1] Torp compares Ancient Greek λόχος (lókhos, “ambush”), literally “the lying”,^[2] and Falk and Torp λέχος (lékhos, “bed”).^[5]

Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon separates two older shapes: the sense “fellowship” from a form with the prefix *ga-, like German Gelage, and the plural lǫg “decrees, fate” perhaps from a form like Old English gelagu.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first found on the Swedish inscription Hs 7, of the 800s, where a penalty rises each time: at fyrsta lagi, at ǫðru lagi, at þriðja lagi “the first time, the second time, the third time”.^[6][7] In manuscripts ONP's first dated records are of 1200, in the Icelandic Homily Book, with the plural for the Law of Moses: gaf goþ lǫg moisi a fialle “God gave Moses the law on the mountain”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Cleasby and Vigfússon start from “layer” and set out the senses “due place, right position”, “fellowship”, “living together”, “market price” and “thrust (with a weapon)”.^[9] Phrases with í … lagi gave adverbs of degree and manner, such as í ǫðru lagi “on the other hand” and í mesta lagi “to the greatest degree”.^[10][11] In poetry lag is also the form of a verse, the metre.^[12][11]

The plural lǫg became the word for “law” and for a law community.^[8][13] It was borrowed as Old English lagu in the late Old English period, and through it English has law.^[13][14]

Timeline

• 800s – at ǫðru lagi “the second time” on the runic inscription Hs 7.^[6]
• 1200 – the plural lǫg for the Law of Moses, and í ǫðru lagi “secondly”, in the Icelandic Homily Book.^[8]
• 1212 – the sense “partnership” in a Norwegian homily.^[8]
• 1275 – the sense “thrust, stab”.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. layer, something laid down.^[10][8]
2. due place, right position, order.^[10][8]
3. fellowship, partnership.^[10][8]
4. living together, cohabitation.^[10]
5. market price, tax.^[10]
6. a thrust or stab with a weapon.^[10][8]
7. a tune, a metre or verse form.^[10][11]
8. (plural lǫg) law.^[8][3]

Word family

• aldrlag
• félag
• lagliga
• lagligr
• lagskona
• lagsmaðr
• lagvápn
• lǫg

Descendants

• Icelandic lag^[1]
• Faroese lag^[1]
• Norwegian Nynorsk lag^[1]
• Swedish lag^[1]
• Danish lag^[1]
• Old English lagu^[13]

Related words

• laga
• leggja
• liggja

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Torp, Alf (1909), Wortschatz der germanischen Spracheinheit (Fick, Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der indogermanischen Sprachen, 4th ed., vol. 3), Göttingen, p. 358
3. ^ a b c Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. lag
4. ^ Jóhannesson, Alexander (1956), Isländisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern, p. 750
5. ^ Falk, Hjalmar; Torp, Alf (1910–1911), Norwegisch-dänisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg, p. s.v. lag
6. ^ a b Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata 3.1), Uppsala universitet (inscriptions by signum), p. Hs 7
7. ^ Peterson, Lena (2006), Svenskt runordsregister, 3rd rev. ed., Runrön 2, Uppsala: Institutionen för nordiska språk
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. lag
9. ^ Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 369
10. ^ a b c d e f g h Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. lag
11. ^ 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. lag
12. ^ Finnur Jónsson (1931), Lexicon Poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, 2nd ed., Copenhagen: S. L. Møller, p. 356
13. ^ a b c Dance, Richard; Pons-Sanz, Sara; Schorn, Brittany, eds., The Gersum Project: The Scandinavian Influence on English Vocabulary, gersum.org, p. s.v. lawe
14. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com, p. s.v. law