maðr

Forms

maðr m (genitive manns, plural menn) (strong consonant stem, s-genitive)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *mannz (“man, human being”),^[1][2] from Proto-Norse *mannʀ,^[3][4] and its cognates are Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌽𐌽𐌰 (manna), Old English mann, Old Frisian mann, Old Saxon man and Old High German man.^[2][5] The nominative ⟨maðr⟩ arose regularly from ⟨*mannʀ⟩, the double ⟨nn⟩ becoming ⟨ð⟩ before ⟨r⟩, as in aðrir beside annarr;^[1][6] the older ⟨mannr⟩ still occurs in the poets, and the plural is ⟨menn⟩, in poetry also ⟨meðr⟩.^[6][7]

Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon reconstructs the Germanic stems as *manna-z and *manēn, *manōn, the double ⟨n⟩ having arisen from ⟨n⟩ + ⟨n⟩ or from ⟨nw⟩.^[8] Related are Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌽𐌰𐍃𐌴𐌸𐍃 (manaseþs, “mankind”) and Latin Mannus, the ancestor of the Germanic peoples in Tacitus,^[3][2] and, beyond this family, Proto-Slavic *mǫžь (“man”).^[2][8] The further connection with Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to think”) is often made but doubtful;^[8][3] Wiktionary gives Kroonen's alternative, after Berneker: a reduced form of *(dʰ)ǵʰmō (“human”), which otherwise gave Proto-Germanic *gumô.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record in Menota is the Norwegian runestone N 244 at Helland, of 980–1015, which ends harþa : kuþan : man: Skarði reisti stein þenna eptir Bjalfa, son sinn, harða góðan mann “Skarði raised this stone after Bjalfi, his son, a very good man”.^[9][10] The word is common in the Swedish Viking Age inscriptions, as in landbornir menn “men born to land” on Sö 54.^[11][12] ONP's first manuscript records are from 1175, in the general sense “person”: sem ioseph af egiptalands monnom “as Joseph by the men of Egypt”.^[13]

Semantic evolution

The word covers human beings of either sex,^[13][14] and in poetry any being in human form, gods included, so that real people were sometimes called mennskir menn.^[7][15] From “person” it came to mean “a man” as against a woman, a husband, and a king's or chief's follower;^[14][16] ONP already dates “husband” to 1175.^[13] It also served almost as an indefinite pronoun, “someone, anyone”, and in the plural for “people”.^[16][17] The law of kinship counted degrees by it: at þriðja manni “in the third degree”.^[14] Religious prose has guð ok maðr and sonr manns.^[13]

It continues as Icelandic maður, Faroese maður, Norwegian Nynorsk mann, Swedish man and Danish mand.^[8][3]

Timeline

• 980–1015 – man “man” on the Norwegian runestone N 244.^[9]
• 1175 – monnom “men, people” in ONP's earliest manuscript records.^[13]
• 1175 – the sense “husband”.^[13]
• 1200 – guð ok maðr “God and man” and sonr manns “the Son of Man”.^[13]
• 1200–1225 – maðr, maðrinn and menninir in the manuscript AM 677 4to.^[18]

Meanings

Noun

1. a human being, a person, without regard to sex; in the plural, people.^[13][14]
2. a man, as opposed to a woman.^[14][19]
3. a husband.^[13][16]
4. a follower or servant.^[16]
5. a degree of kinship.^[14][1]
6. someone, anyone, one, as an indefinite subject.^[16][20]

Word family

• karlmaðr
• kvennmaðr
• lǫgmaðr
• banamaðr
• blótmaðr
• eyjamaðr
• mennskr
• manngi
• mannamót
• mannamunr
• ármaðr

Descendants

• Icelandic maður^[1]
• Faroese maður^[1]
• Norn mann^[1]
• Norwegian Nynorsk mann^[1]
• Swedish man^[1]
• Danish mand^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 260
3. ^ a b c d de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 374
4. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Altnordisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary database copy), p. s.v. maðr
5. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 353
6. ^ a b Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 407
7. ^ a b Finnur Jónsson (1931), Lexicon Poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, 2nd ed., Copenhagen: S. L. Møller, p. 390
8. ^ a b c d Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. maður
9. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. N 244
10. ^ Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata 3.1), Uppsala universitet (inscriptions by signum), p. N 244
11. ^ Peterson, Lena (2006), Svenskt runordsregister, 3rd rev. ed., Runrön 2, Uppsala: Institutionen för nordiska språk
12. ^ Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata 3.1), Uppsala universitet (inscriptions by signum), p. Sö 54
13. ^ 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. maðr
14. ^ a b c d e f Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. maðr
15. ^ Gering, Hugo (1903), Vollständiges Wörterbuch zu den Liedern der Edda, Halle: Waisenhaus, p. col. 652
16. ^ a b c d e Hægstad, Marius; Torp, Alf (1909), Gamalnorsk ordbok med nynorsk tyding, Kristiania: Det norske samlaget, p. 272
17. ^ Sveinbjörn Egilsson (1860), Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, Hafniæ: Societas regia antiquariorum septentrionalium, p. 552
18. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 677 4to
19. ^ Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 399
20. ^ 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. maðr