rangr

Forms

rangr adj (feminine rǫng, neuter rangt; comparative rangari, superlative rangastr)^[1] The older form vrangr survives in Bragi's ofra vrǫngum ægi.^[1][2] Norwegian diplomas also write ruangr.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *wrangaz (“twisted, wrong”),^[4][5] an o-grade adjective made to the strong verb *wringaną (“to wring, twist”), which gave Old English wringan (“to wring”) and Old High German ringan (“to wring, wrestle”).^[4][6] The adjective has relatives in wrang (“wrong, injustice”), Middle Dutch wranc (“bitter, unfriendly”) and Middle Low German wrank (“sour, bitter”).^[4][5]

Old Norse lost the ⟨w⟩ before ⟨r⟩ before the written period, as in reiðr (“angry”); Old Swedish vranger keeps it.^[7]

Beyond Germanic, Kroonen compares Lithuanian rangýti (“to wind, bend”), from Proto-Indo-European *wrengʰ- (“to twist”);^[6][8] Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon adds Ancient Greek ῥίμφα (rhímpha, “swiftly”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Menota's first record is ranga in the Norwegian fragment NRA norr fragm 81 B, dated 1150–1250.^[10] ONP's earliest citation, from a confession of 1200, already has the moral sense: at ec hefe synþer gorvar ... i orþom oc i verkom oc i huga rꜵngom “that I have committed sins ... in words and in deeds and in wrong thought”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The physical sense “crooked, wry” is rare: in Hávamál a curse wishes that skór er skapaðr illa eða skapt sé rangt “the shoe be badly made or the shaft crooked”, and a Norwegian diploma of 1314 says fótrinn var rangr “the foot was twisted”.^[3][12][11] Cleasby and Vigfússon note that Icelandic writers never used it of things.^[1]

The usual sense is moral and legal: rangr dómr “an unjust judgment”, rangr eiðr “a false oath”, false measures in Grágás, and the neuter as an adverb, stefna rangt “to summon wrongly”, at rǫngu “wrongfully”;^[1][13][11] réttr and rangr are often set against each other.^[1][13][11] ONP finds it in legal works nearly three times as often as their share of the corpus would lead one to expect.^[11]

Icelandic has rangur, Swedish vrång and Danish vrang.^[9] English wrong comes from Norse, through late Old English wrang; the sense “unjust, immoral” is found by about 1300.^[14][15][16]

Timeline

• 1150–1250 – ranga in the Norwegian fragment NRA norr fragm 81 B.^[10]
• 1200 – huga rꜵngom “wrong thought” in a confession, and þat rét er rangt er “what is wrong is right” in the Icelandic Homily Book.^[11]
• 1200–1225 – rangr in many forms in AM 619 4to and AM 677 4to.^[17][18]
• 1220–1230 – raungum in the Norwegian diploma DN 2:5.^[19]
• 1250 – “false, falsified” in Grágás.^[11]
• c. 1300 – English wrong in the sense “unjust, immoral”.^[15]
• 1314 – “crooked, twisted”, of a foot, in a Norwegian diploma.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. crooked, wry, twisted.^[11][13][3]
2. wrong, incorrect; unjust, wrongful.^[11][13][20]
3. false, falsified, of measures and oaths.^[11][1]

Word family

• rangliga
• rangindi
• rangleikr
• rangligr
• rengja
• rangeygr
• ranghverfa

Descendants

• Icelandic rangur^[21]
• Faroese rangur^[21]
• Norn rang^[21]
• Norwegian Nynorsk rang^[21]
• Swedish vrång^[9]
• Danish vrang^[9]
• Middle English wrong (→ English wrong)^[14][15]

Related words

• rǫng

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 482
2. ^ Finnur Jónsson (1931), Lexicon Poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, 2nd ed., Copenhagen: S. L. Møller, p. 455
3. ^ a b c Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. rangr
4. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 594
5. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 471
6. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 596
7. ^ Noreen, Adolf (1923), Altisländische und altnorwegische Grammatik, 4th ed., Halle, p. § 288
8. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
9. ^ a b c d Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. rangur
10. ^ a b 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 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. rangr
12. ^ Gering, Hugo (1915), Glossar zu den Liedern der Edda, 4th ed., Paderborn, p. 141
13. ^ a b c d Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. rangr
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), p. s.v. wrong
15. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com, p. s.v. wrong
16. ^ Hellquist, Elof (1922), Svensk etymologisk ordbok, Lund, p. s.v. vrång
17. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 619 4to
18. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 677 4to
19. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. DN 2:5
20. ^ Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 486
21. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org