sœkja

Forms

sœkja (singular past indicative sótti, plural past indicative sóttu, past participle sóttr) (weak class 1)^[1] Later Icelandic sækja, with æ for œ.^[2][3] The past sótti stands for sœkti, which is also found now and then.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *sōkijaną (“to seek”),^[1][5] continued also by Gothic 𐍃𐍉𐌺𐌾𐌰𐌽 (sōkjan, “to search, request”), Old English sēċan, Old Frisian sēka, Old Saxon sōkian and Old High German suohhen.^[5][6] Kroonen relates it to the strong verb Proto-Germanic *sakaną (“to charge, dispute”),^[5] and de Vries refers to saka.^[7] Orel calls it a factitive of that verb, but Kroonen thinks a causative unlikely, given the e-grade of the Greek and Latin cognates and the verb's meaning.^[6][5]

The root is Proto-Indo-European *seh₂g- (“to seek out”),^[1][5] seen in Latin sāgiō (“to perceive keenly”), Old Irish saigid (“to seek, try to reach”) and Ancient Greek ἡγέομαι (hēgéomai, “to lead”).^[6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

IcePaHC's earliest text, the Icelandic Homily Book, which it dates 1150, already has the present and past forms sækja, sækir, sótti and sóttu.^[8] In Menota it is first found in AM 619 4to, of 1200–1225, with the spellings søkia, sœkia and the past sotte.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The verb covers going towards something, in peace or in war: Zoëga's order runs from “to seek” and “to go and fetch” through “to visit, attend” to “to attack”, “to overtake” and “to overcome”, and on to pressing on with a task and going forward.^[10] In law it means to prosecute a case or a person, opposite verja “to defend”;^[11][12] sœkjandi is the plaintiff.^[11][12] The hostile sense is strong in the poetry, where it is used for attacking a land, sœkja fold.^[13] Modern Icelandic keeps sækja sjó “to go fishing” from the older sœkja sæ “to go to sea”.^[13][14] The verb continues as Icelandic sækja, Faroese søkja, Norwegian Nynorsk søkja, Swedish söka and Danish søge.^[7][3]

Timeline

• 1150 – sækja, sótti in the Icelandic Homily Book, by IcePaHC's dating.^[8]
• 1200–1225 – søkia, sœkia in AM 619 4to.^[9]
• 1225–1250 – sœkia, sotte in DG 8 II.^[15]
• 1275–1300 – sǿkja, sóttan in Holm perg 4 fol.^[16]

Meanings

Verb

1. to seek, try to get.^[10][17]
2. to go and fetch.^[10][2]
3. to visit, go to, attend.^[10][14]
4. to attack, assail.^[10][17]
5. to overtake; to overcome, master.^[10][17]
6. to pursue, press on with.^[10]
7. (law) to prosecute (a case or person).^[10][11]
8. to cross, pass over; to proceed, advance.^[10]

Word family

• sókn

Descendants

• Icelandic sækja^[1]
• Faroese søkja^[1]
• Norwegian Nynorsk søkja^[1]
• Swedish söka^[1]
• Danish søge^[1]

Related words

• saka

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 617
3. ^ a b c Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. sækja
4. ^ Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. sœkja
5. ^ a b c d e Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 464
6. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 360
7. ^ a b de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 577
8. ^ a b Wallenberg, Joel C.; Ingason, Anton Karl; Sigurðsson, Einar Freyr; Rögnvaldsson, Eiríkur, Icelandic Parsed Historical Corpus, version 0.9
9. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 619 4to
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. sœkja
11. ^ a b c Hægstad, Marius; Torp, Alf (1909), Gamalnorsk ordbok med nynorsk tyding, Kristiania: Det norske samlaget, p. 452
12. ^ a b Hertzberg, Ebbe (1895), Glossarium, in Norges gamle Love indtil 1387, vol. 5, Christiania, p. 629
13. ^ a b Sveinbjörn Egilsson (1860), Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, Hafniæ: Societas regia antiquariorum septentrionalium, p. 692
14. ^ a b 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. sœkja
15. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. DG 8 II
16. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. Holm perg 4 fol
17. ^ a b c Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 635