mega

Forms

mega (present)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *maganą (“to be able, may”),^[1] a preterite-present verb common to Germanic: Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌲𐌰𐌽 (magan), Old English magan, Old Frisian muga, Old Saxon mugan and Old High German magan, mugan.^[2][3][4] The present ⟨má⟩ stands for older ⟨*mag⟩, the form kept in Gothic and Old High German.^[5]

Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon takes the Gothic vowel as the older one; the ⟨u⟩ or ⟨o⟩ of the stem in Old Norse and West Germanic is likely younger, after preterite-presents such as skal, skulum, and the ⟨e⟩ of Icelandic ⟨mega⟩ probably comes from the optative.^[3] Orel, after Osthoff, assigns most forms to the fifth class of strong verbs.^[6]

The root is Proto-Indo-European *magʰ- (“to be able, help”),^[3][4] seen in Proto-Slavic *mogti (“to be able”) and Ancient Greek μῆχος (mêkhos, “means, contrivance”).^[6][3] Wiktionary instead derives the Germanic verb from a perfect of Proto-Indo-European *megʰ-.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

On the Swedish Viking Age runestone U 323 the present má closes the inscription: Má eigi brautarkuml betra verða “No wayside monument can be better”.^[7][8] The first dated manuscripts are the Norwegian fragments NRA norr fragm 81 A and B, of 1150–1250, with má and megi.^[9][10] ONP's earliest dated passage, from 1175, shows the sense “to be able, have power”: Mego þeir alt þat es þeir vilia “They can do all that they wish”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

Neckel notes that in the Edda the verb mostly refers to inner strength or ability,^[12] and Finnur Jónsson calls “to be able” its only meaning in the poetry.^[13] In prose it takes an object, mega betr “to be the stronger”, mega við e-m “to be able to withstand someone”, and it is used of health: mega vel “to be well”, hversu máttu? “how are you?”.^[14][15][16] With an infinitive it means “can”, which led to “to be permitted, may”.^[14][17] ONP's early citations already have the impersonal vera má “it may be”.^[11]

The verb continues as Icelandic mega and Faroese mega; on the mainland the old singular má became the infinitive, as in Swedish må, and Danish built måtte on the preterite.^[3][18]

Timeline

• 1150–1250 – má, megi in NRA norr fragm 81 A.^[9]
• 1175 – mego “they can” in ONP's earliest dated citation.^[11]
• 1200 – the impersonal sense “it may be” in the Icelandic Homily Book, by ONP's dating.^[11]
• 1200–1225 – mega, má, mátti, mǽtti in AM 677 4to.^[19]

Meanings

Verb

1. to have strength or power; to be able to do, avail (with the accusative).^[11][14]
2. of health: mega vel to be well, mega illa to be poorly.^[14][15]
3. with an infinitive: to be able, can.^[14][20]
4. to be permitted, may.^[14][17]
5. impersonal: vera má it may be, it is possible.^[11][21]

Word family

• máttr
• máttugr

Descendants

• Icelandic mega^[1]
• Faroese mega^[1]
• Norwegian Nynorsk moga^[1]
• Swedish må^[1]
• Danish måtte^[1]

Related words

• magn
• megin
• muga

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 381
3. ^ a b c d e Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. mega
4. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
5. ^ Torp, Alf (1909), Wortschatz der germanischen Spracheinheit (Fick, Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der indogermanischen Sprachen, 4th ed., vol. 3), Göttingen, p. 303
6. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 252
7. ^ Peterson, Lena (2006), Svenskt runordsregister, 3rd rev. ed., Runrön 2, Uppsala: Institutionen för nordiska språk
8. ^ Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata 3.1), Uppsala universitet (inscriptions by signum), p. U 323
9. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. NRA norr fragm 81 A
10. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. NRA norr fragm 81 B
11. ^ a b c d e f Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. mega
12. ^ Neckel, Gustav (1927), Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius, vol. 2: Kommentierendes Glossar, Heidelberg, p. 114
13. ^ Finnur Jónsson (1931), Lexicon Poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, 2nd ed., Copenhagen: S. L. Møller, p. 398
14. ^ a b c d e f Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. mega
15. ^ a b Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 420
16. ^ Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 412
17. ^ a b Hægstad, Marius; Torp, Alf (1909), Gamalnorsk ordbok med nynorsk tyding, Kristiania: Det norske samlaget, p. 283
18. ^ Hellquist, Elof (1922), Svensk etymologisk ordbok, Lund, p. s.v. må
19. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 677 4to
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. mega
21. ^ Möbius, Theodor (1866), Altnordisches Glossar, Leipzig: Teubner, p. 295