padda

Forms

padda f (genitive pǫddu) (weak ōn-stem)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *paddǭ (“toad”),^[1] a word shared with Middle English padde, Middle Low German padde and Middle Dutch pedde.^[2][3][4] Fischer counts it among the Middle Low German loans in Old Norse,^[5] a view de Vries thinks unlikely.^[3] Its doubled consonant is of the kind found in pet names and nicknames, among them several names of the frog.^[4][6]

The further origin is unclear.^[4][3] The proposal most often repeated links the name to the toad's soft feet: Middle Low German pad (“sole of the foot”), the English word pad and Low German padden (“to tread”).^[7][3] Persson tied it instead to a Slavic verb meaning “to grow fat”, after the animal's squat build, which Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon thinks doubtful.^[4] Uhlenbeck compared Ancient Greek βάτραχος (bátrakhos, “frog”),^[3][6] and Orel relates it to Latin badius (“chestnut-brown”) and Old Irish buide (“yellow”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

ONP's first dated record is in the manuscript AM 645 4to of 1220, in a list of the creatures a land will be free of: Verþra þar høɢormr. ne froscr. ne padda. ne eki illcycqvende. þat er grande heilso manna “There will be no adder there, nor frog, nor toad, nor any vermin that harms people's health”.^[8][9]

Semantic evolution

In Old Norse the toad stands with snakes, lizards and frogs in lists of vermin, as in Ágrip: ullo ór ormar ok eþlor, froskar ok pǫddor “snakes and lizards, frogs and toads swarmed out”.^[8][10] ONP finds it most in religious works, then historical works and romances.^[8] In Iceland, which has no amphibians, the word was used of insects and beetles in pools and foul water.^[11] Modern Icelandic padda means a small creature or insect, a small child, and is a term of abuse;^[3] Faroese padda is both “toad” and “grain weevil”.^[4]

De Vries derives Shetland padd and Orkney paddock “toad” from the Norse word.^[3] Etymonline takes English paddock (“toad, frog”), recorded from the late 14th century, as a diminutive of a word for “toad” from Old Norse padda,^[12] while de Vries and Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon list Middle English padde among the cognates.^[3][4]

Timeline

• 1220 – padda in the manuscript AM 645 4to.^[8][9]
• 1225 – froskar ok pǫddor in Ágrip.^[8]
• 1225–1250 – paddur in the Legendary Saga of St Óláfr in DG 8 II.^[13]
• 1250–1270 – padda in the Norwegian fragment NRA norr fragm 58 C.^[14]
• late 14th century – English paddok “toad, frog”.^[12]
• 1475 – pöddum in IcePaHC.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. a toad; also a frog.^[8][16][11]

Word family

• eitrpadda

Descendants

• Icelandic padda^[1]
• Faroese padda^[1]
• Norwegian Nynorsk padde^[1]
• Norwegian Bokmål padde^[1]
• Swedish padda^[1]
• Danish padde^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 291
3. ^ a b c d e f g h de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 422
4. ^ a b c d e f Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. padda
5. ^ Fischer, Frank (1909), Die Lehnwörter des Altwestnordischen, Palaestra 85, Berlin, p. 36
6. ^ a b Hellquist, Elof (1922), Svensk etymologisk ordbok, Lund, p. s.v. padda
7. ^ Falk, Hjalmar; Torp, Alf (1910–1911), Norwegisch-dänisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg, p. s.v. padde
8. ^ 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. padda
9. ^ a b Larsson, Ludvig (1891), Ordförrådet i de älsta islänska handskrifterna, Lund: Ph. Lindstedt, p. 255
10. ^ Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. padda
11. ^ a b Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 474
12. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
13. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. DG 8 II
14. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. NRA norr fragm 58 C
15. ^ Wallenberg, Joel C.; Ingason, Anton Karl; Sigurðsson, Einar Freyr; Rögnvaldsson, Eiríkur, Icelandic Parsed Historical Corpus, version 0.9
16. ^ Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. padda