seggr

Forms

seggr m (strong i-stem)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *sagjaz (“man, hero”),^[2][1] the source also of Old English secg (“man”) and Old Saxon segg (“companion, warrior”).^[2][3] Kroonen takes it as an old ablauting “i”-stem built to Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“to follow”), the companion being one who follows; the labial part of the labiovelar was lost early in Germanic.^[2] The same root is in Latin sequor (“to follow”) and socius (“companion”).^[3][4]

Cleasby and Vigfússon connected it with segja (“to say”) and thought it first meant “messenger”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Menota's earliest dated record is seggja in Vǫluspá in GKS 2365 4to of 1250–1300,^[6] in the phrase ørlǫg seggja “the fates of men”.^[7] Larsson finds seggia among the oldest Icelandic manuscripts.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The word belongs to verse: Zoëga and Cleasby–Vigfússon mark it poetic, and Finnur Jónsson lists it from the Eddic poems and the skalds.^[9][5][7] Gering and Neckel give the Eddic sense as “retainer, warrior, young man”, which Finnur Jónsson takes to be the first sense, a companion in war.^[10][11][7] In the modern language Icelandic seggur lives on mainly in compounds that disparage, such as óróaseggur “troublemaker”.^[5][12]

Timeline

• 1250–1300 – seggja in Vǫluspá, GKS 2365 4to.^[6]
• 1330–1370 – seggr, seggja and seggjum in the verses of Hallfreðar saga, Víga-Glúms saga and Bandamanna saga in AM 132 fol.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. (poetic) a man.^[9][5]
2. (poetic) a retainer, warrior, hero.^[10][11]
3. (poetic) in the plural, people, men in general.^[14]

Word family

• seggfjǫld

Descendants

• Icelandic seggur^[1]
• Faroese seggur^[1]
• Norwegian Nynorsk segg^[1]

Related words

• sǫgn

Usage notes

Seggr is also the name of a son of Karl and Snør in Rígsþula.^[15][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 420
3. ^ a b Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. seggur
4. ^ Jóhannesson, Alexander (1956), Isländisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern, p. 778
5. ^ a b c d Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 518
6. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. GKS 2365 4to
7. ^ a b c d Finnur Jónsson (1931), Lexicon Poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, 2nd ed., Copenhagen: S. L. Møller, p. 486
8. ^ Larsson, Ludvig (1891), Ordförrådet i de älsta islänska handskrifterna, Lund: Ph. Lindstedt, p. 281
9. ^ a b Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. seggr
10. ^ a b Gering, Hugo (1903), Vollständiges Wörterbuch zu den Liedern der Edda, Halle: Waisenhaus, p. col. 890
11. ^ a b Neckel, Gustav (1927), Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius, vol. 2: Kommentierendes Glossar, Heidelberg, p. 143
12. ^ Sigfús Blöndal (1920–1924), Islandsk-dansk ordbog, Reykjavík, p. 681
13. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 132 fol
14. ^ 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. seggr
15. ^ Gering, Hugo (1903), Vollständiges Wörterbuch zu den Liedern der Edda, Halle: Waisenhaus, p. col. 1338