merki

Forms

merki n (strong ija-stem)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *markiją,^[1] a derivative of the noun that gave mark (“mark, sign”); de Vries starts from Proto-Norse *markia.^[2][3] That noun is Proto-Germanic *marką (“sign”), with Old English mearc and Dutch merk, and Kroonen thinks it possibly related to *markō (“boundary, region”), the source of mǫrk (“forest”).^[4] The West Germanic nouns formed in the same way carry a prefix: Old English gemierce and Old Saxon gimerki.^[2][3]

The Norse word was borrowed into Middle English merke, into Old French merc (“mark”) in Normandy, into Middle Irish mergge and into Finnish merkki.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

IcePaHC's first record is merkjum in the Icelandic Homily Book, which it dates to 1150.^[5] ONP's citation from the same book, dated 1200 there, has the sense “mark, sign”: Christ showed his hands and feet meþ merkiom piningar siɴar “with the marks of his passion”.^[6] ONP's earliest dated citation, of 1192, uses it of a sign of the zodiac: í merke þui er hrútr er kallaþr “in the sign that is called the Ram”.^[6] In the Viking Age the runestone Sö 18 records that Hákon hjó merki “cut the landmark”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

ONP's first sense is the military banner, then a mark, sign or proof, then a trace left behind.^[6] The sense “boundary”, mostly in the plural, is old in the laws, as are marks on sword blades, which Hertzberg takes to be the owner's or the smith's stamp.^[8][9] A banner was also carried in church processions, and the merkismaðr who bore one gave his name to a man of distinction.^[9][10] Learned prose used merki for the signs of the zodiac and for “significance”.^[6] In the kennings brá merki is the eye.^[11]

It continues as Icelandic merki, Swedish märke and Danish mærke;^[3][12] Old Swedish still had the sense “banner”.^[3][12]

Timeline

• 1150 – merkjum in the Icelandic Homily Book, by IcePaHC's dating.^[5]
• 1192 – a sign of the zodiac, in GKS 1812 4to.^[6]
• 1200 – “mark, sign” in the Icelandic Homily Book.^[6]
• 1212 – “significance” in the Old Norwegian Homily Book.^[6]
• 1237 – “banner” and “boundary” in the legendary saga of St Olaf.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. a banner, standard.^[6][10]
2. a mark, sign, token; proof;^[6][13] til merkis as a token.^[6][13]
3. a trace, remains.^[6][10]
4. a boundary, landmark, mostly in the plural.^[10][8]
5. a sign of the zodiac.^[6][14]
6. significance, something remarkable.^[6][15]

Word family

• merkismaðr
• landamerki

Descendants

• Icelandic merki^[1]
• Faroese merki^[1]
• Swedish märke^[1]
• Danish mærke^[1]
• Middle English merke^[2]
• Old French merc^[2]
• Middle Irish mergge^[2]
• Finnish merkki^[2]

Related words

• mark
• merkja
• mǫrk

Usage notes

A rare second merki “celery” is a separate word: ONP has it twice, in medical texts of 1350 and 1487 (Apium er merki).^[6] Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon takes it to be probably a loan from Old English merece or Middle Low German merk.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 385
3. ^ a b c d e Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. merki
4. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 355
5. ^ a b Wallenberg, Joel C.; Ingason, Anton Karl; Sigurðsson, Einar Freyr; Rögnvaldsson, Eiríkur, Icelandic Parsed Historical Corpus, version 0.9
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. merki
7. ^ Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata 3.1), Uppsala universitet (inscriptions by signum), p. Sö 18
8. ^ a b Hertzberg, Ebbe (1895), Glossarium, in Norges gamle Love indtil 1387, vol. 5, Christiania, p. 443
9. ^ a b Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 424
10. ^ a b c d Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. merki
11. ^ Meissner, Rudolf (1921), Die Kenningar der Skalden, Bonn & Leipzig, p. 131
12. ^ a b Hellquist, Elof (1922), Svensk etymologisk ordbok, Lund, p. s.v. märke
13. ^ a b Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 416
14. ^ Finnur Jónsson (1931), Lexicon Poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, 2nd ed., Copenhagen: S. L. Møller, p. 403
15. ^ 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. merki