leggr

Forms

leggr m (genitive leggjar, plural leggir) (strong i-stem)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *lagjaz (“leg, thigh”),^[1][2] for which de Vries and Köbler reconstruct Proto-Norse *lagja.^[3][2] Its closest relative outside Scandinavia is Lombardic lagi (“thigh”).^[3][4][5]

The /gg/ is the lengthening of /g/ before /j/,^[6] and Noreen pairs the word with lær (“thigh”) as an example of Verner's law within Old Norse; de Vries likewise sets the two side by side as forms with grammatical alternation.^[7][3]

The further origin is unclear.^[8][1] Torp, Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon and Hellquist compare Latin lacertus (“upper arm”) and an Indo-European root meaning “to bend”;^[5][4][9] Köbler likewise refers it to Proto-Indo-European *lek- (“to bend”).^[10] Wiktionary also notes a possible link with Proto-Germanic *lihwizô (“thigh, groin”) and with Proto-Germanic *lagjaną (“to lay”).^[1] Hellquist allows that the Proto-Norse form may have been an s-stem.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Menota first records the word in AM 619 4to, of 1200–1225, which ONP dates 1212.^[11][12] There it means the leg, in a miracle of healing: sva at fǿtr ok leggir ok aðrir límir rettosc or lyccium “so that the feet and legs and the other limbs straightened out of their twisting”.^[12]

Semantic evolution

ONP puts the hollow bone of the arm or leg first and the leg itself second, and the leg sense has by far the most citations.^[12] From the bone and the leg the word was carried over to long straight things: the stem of a plant or trunk of a tree, the shank of an anchor, the shaft of a spear, of a pillar or of a candlestick.^[13][14][15] In compounds it also names a line of descent, as in ættleggr, karlleggr and kvennleggr.^[15][16]

The phrases komast á legg and rísa á legg “to get on one's legs” mean to grow up, and the alliterating pair leggr ok liðr “bone and joint” means every limb.^[14][13] The Gulaþing law fixes a fine þar sem egg ok leggr mœtisk, where the blade reaches the bone.^[12][17]

The word lives on as Icelandic leggur, Swedish lägg and Danish læg.^[4][9] English leg is a loan from Norse, recorded from the late 13th century, where it took the place of the older English word shank.^[8][18][3]

Timeline

• 1200–1225 – leggir and leggi in AM 619 4to, the first record (ONP dates it 1212).^[11][12]
• 1225–1250 – Norwegian spellings læggir, læggrenn in DG 8 II.^[19]
• 1250–1300 – leggjum in GKS 2365 4to.^[20]
• 1275 – egg ok leggr “blade and bone” in the Gulaþing law, the sense of bone.^[12]
• 1280 – the shaft of a pillar.^[12]
• 1350 – the phrase kominn á legg “grown up”.^[12]
• 1391 – the shank of an anchor.^[12]
• 1412 – the trunk of a tree.^[12]
• Late 13th century – English leg, from Norse.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. a bone of the arm or leg, a hollow bone.^[12][13][21]
2. a leg, especially the lower leg between knee and ankle.^[12][17][21]
3. the stem of a plant, the trunk of a tree.^[12][13]
4. the shank of an anchor.^[13][14]
5. the shaft of a spear, a pillar or a candlestick; a rod.^[12][13][15]
6. (in compounds) a line of descent.^[15][14]

Word family

• fótleggr
• handleggr
• armleggr
• lærleggr
• ættleggr
• karlleggr
• kvennleggr
• leggjabrot
• leggjaband

Descendants

• Icelandic leggur^[1]
• Faroese leggur^[1]
• Norwegian Nynorsk legg^[1]
• Norwegian Bokmål legg^[1]
• Swedish lägg^[1]
• Danish læg^[1]
• English leg^[8]

Related words

• lær

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard, Altnordisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary database copy), p. s.v. leggr
3. ^ a b c d de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 349
4. ^ a b c Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. leggur
5. ^ a b Torp, Alf (1909), Wortschatz der germanischen Spracheinheit (Fick, Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der indogermanischen Sprachen, 4th ed., vol. 3), Göttingen, p. 357
6. ^ Noreen, Adolf (1923), Altisländische und altnorwegische Grammatik, 4th ed., Halle, p. § 279
7. ^ Noreen, Adolf (1923), Altisländische und altnorwegische Grammatik, 4th ed., Halle, p. § 317
8. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com, p. s.v. leg
9. ^ a b c Hellquist, Elof (1922), Svensk etymologisk ordbok, Lund, p. s.v. lägg
10. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *lagja-
11. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 619 4to
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. leggr
13. ^ a b c d e f Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. leggr
14. ^ a b c d Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 380
15. ^ a b c d Hægstad, Marius; Torp, Alf (1909), Gamalnorsk ordbok med nynorsk tyding, Kristiania: Det norske samlaget, p. 248
16. ^ Hertzberg, Ebbe (1895), Glossarium, in Norges gamle Love indtil 1387, vol. 5, Christiania, p. 390
17. ^ a b Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. leggr
18. ^ 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)
19. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. DG 8 II
20. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. GKS 2365 4to
21. ^ a b Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 370