mistaka

Forms

mistaka v (past mistók, past participle mistekinn), strong^[1][2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Old Norse mis- + taka (“to take”), “to take wrongly”.^[1][4] The prefix mis- has counterparts in Old English mis-, Old Saxon mis- and Old High German missa-;^[5] taka goes back to Proto-Germanic *takaną.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in AM 677 4to, of 1200–1225, as the participle misteknar: en hvi gegnir þat er necqveriar andir verþa sva sem mistecnar fra licꜹmom “but what does it mean that some souls are, as it were, taken by mistake from their bodies?”^[7][3] ONP dates this citation (GregDialA) 1212.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The literal sense, to take something by mistake, is that of the laws, as in the rule that a man who has taken another's goods in error must return them;^[3][8] from it came impersonal phrases, e-m verðr mistekit til e-s “one goes wrong in something”, and the reflexive mistakask “to miscarry, go wrong”.^[3][9] In the romances it renders Old French expressions of wrongdoing, for which Fritzner gives a sense “to transgress, offend”.^[8] Its records fall mostly in religious works, romances and the laws.^[3]

Middle English mistaken, the English word mistake, is from taken together with the Norse verb,^[10] Etymonline suggesting a blend of the native formation and the Norse word; it dates the English verb to the mid-14th century.^[11]

Timeline

• 1200–1225 – misteknar in AM 677 4to (dated 1212 by ONP).^[7][3]
• 1250 – er hiɴ mistóc gripeɴ, of goods taken in error, in the law text ONP cites as GrgKonᴵᴵ.^[3]
• 1260–1290 – mistok in DG 4–7.^[12]
• mid-14th century – English mistake, from the Norse verb or formed in English.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. to take something by mistake, or happen to take it in error.^[3][9][13]
2. (impersonal) e-m verðr mistekit til e-s, e-m misteksk til e-s: one makes a mistake, is at fault in something.^[3][1]
3. to transgress, go astray.^[8][14]
4. (reflexive) mistakask, to miscarry, go wrong.^[9][1]

Descendants

• Norwegian Nynorsk mistaka^[4]
• English mistake^[10][11]

Related words

• taka

References

1. ^ a b c d Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 432
2. ^ Möbius, Theodor (1866), Altnordisches Glossar, Leipzig: Teubner, p. 302
3. ^ 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. mistaka
4. ^ a b Hægstad, Marius; Torp, Alf (1909), Gamalnorsk ordbok med nynorsk tyding, Kristiania: Det norske samlaget, p. 293
5. ^ Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. mis-
6. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Altnordisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary database copy), p. s.v. taka
7. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 677 4to
8. ^ a b c Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. mistaka
9. ^ a b c Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. mistaka
10. ^ a b 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), p. s.v. mistaken
11. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com, p. s.v. mistake
12. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. DG 4–7
13. ^ A Lexicon of Medieval Nordic Law, Digital Humanities Institute, University of Sheffield, p. s.v. mistaka
14. ^ Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 422