raka

Forms

raka v (weak, past tense rakaði)^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *rakōjaną (“to rake”),^[1][4] a derivative of the strong verb Proto-Germanic *rekaną (“to heap up, rake up”).^[4] The strong verb survives in Gothic 𐍂𐌹𐌺𐌰𐌽 (rikan, “to heap up”), Middle High German rechen (“to gather, scrape”) and Middle Low German reken, to which this verb stands in ablaut.^[5][6] It is cognate with Middle Low German raken (“to scrape together”), and belongs with reka (“shovel”) and rakr (“straight”).^[7][5] Outside Germanic, Torp, Falk and Torp and Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon compare Latin rogus (“funeral pyre”).^[6][8][5] Orel sets the strong verb with Latin regō (“to direct”) and Ancient Greek ὀρέγω (orégō, “to stretch”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Menota's earliest record is the participle rakað in Holm perg 17 4to, of 1290–1310.^[10] ONP's earliest dated citations are of 1300, both senses at once: þottu mer þæir hogga sva miket ok vitt ofan af mino hofðe, sem rakað var “it seemed to me they cut as much and as wide off my head as had been shaved”.^[3] Eyrbyggja saga has kallaði Þoroddr þa a meɴ at vpp skyldi raka heyit “Þóroddr called to the men to rake up the hay”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

ONP orders the senses “rake together” and “shave”, with a rare “scrape off”.^[3] Cleasby and Vigfússon and Fritzner start from scraping something away or together: the hay, money (raka saman fé), a fly swept off with the hand.^[11][12] Shaving is scraping the hair away: raka skegg “to shave a beard”, raka koll “to shave the crown”, both also in the laws.^[3][13] ONP finds it most in the family sagas and the laws.^[3]

It continues as Icelandic raka, with both senses, and Icelandic rakari (“barber”) is formed from the second.^[5] The verb Middle English raken is from Old Norse, influenced by the noun for the rake.^[14]

Timeline

• 1290–1310 – rakað in Holm perg 17 4to.^[10]
• 1300 – raka vpp heyit “to rake up the hay”, ONP's first dated record of the sense.^[3]
• 1312 – let raka sig “had himself shaved”, ONP's first record of the sense “shave someone”.^[3]
• 1540 – rakaði in IcePaHC's text NTACTS, by its dating.^[15]

Meanings

Verb

1. to rake together, to scrape up (hay, money); to sweep away.^[3][2][11]
2. to shave someone, to shave a beard or the head; to tonsure.^[3][2]
3. to scrape something off.^[3][12]

Descendants

• Icelandic raka^[1]
• Faroese raka^[1]
• Norwegian Nynorsk raka^[1]
• Swedish raka^[1]
• Danish rage^[1]
• Middle English raken (→ English rake)^[14]

Related words

• reka
• rekja
• rakr

Usage notes

A feminine noun raka “row, line” is a separate word, related to rekja.^[7][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. raka
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. raka
4. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 297
5. ^ a b c d e Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. raka
6. ^ a b Torp, Alf (1909), Wortschatz der germanischen Spracheinheit (Fick, Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der indogermanischen Sprachen, 4th ed., vol. 3), Göttingen, p. 334
7. ^ a b de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 432
8. ^ Falk, Hjalmar; Torp, Alf (1910–1911), Norwegisch-dänisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg, p. s.v. rage
9. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 301
10. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. Holm perg 17 4to
11. ^ a b Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 481
12. ^ a b Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. raka
13. ^ Hertzberg, Ebbe (1895), Glossarium, in Norges gamle Love indtil 1387, vol. 5, Christiania, p. 505
14. ^ 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)
15. ^ Wallenberg, Joel C.; Ingason, Anton Karl; Sigurðsson, Einar Freyr; Rögnvaldsson, Eiríkur, Icelandic Parsed Historical Corpus, version 0.9