skabb

Forms

skabb n (a-stem)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *skabbaz (“scab, itch”),^[2][1] cognate with Old English sceabb (“scab, itch”).^[3][4] It belongs with the strong verb skafa (“to scrape”), from Proto-Germanic *skabaną,^[5][6] and Holthausen and Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon compare Latin scabiēs (“itch, mange”).^[3][5] De Vries also puts here Old English sceabbede (“scabby”), Middle Low German schabbe (“shabby person”) and Old High German schabe (“itch”); he rejects Bloomfield's explanation of the doubled “-bb-” by levelling in an “n”-stem and takes it as expressive.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word names a skin disease, mange or the itch; Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon marks it as obsolete in Icelandic.^[4][5] It lives on as Norwegian and Swedish skabb and Danish skab.^[4] Middle English scabbe, English scab, is probably from Norse, as de Vries and the MED say;^[4][7] Etymonline derives it from both the Old English and the Norse word, perhaps helped by Latin scabies.^[8]

Timeline

• mid-13th century – Middle English scab “skin disease”, which Etymonline traces partly to the Norse word.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. mange, the itch, a scabby skin disease.^[1][4][9]

Descendants

• Norwegian Nynorsk skabb^[4]
• Swedish skabb^[4]
• Danish skab^[4]
• Middle English scabbe^[7]

Related words

• skafa

References

1. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard, Altnordisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary database copy), p. s.v. skabb
2. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
3. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 271
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 479
5. ^ a b c Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. skabb
6. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 330
7. ^ 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)
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Hægstad, Marius; Torp, Alf (1909), Gamalnorsk ordbok med nynorsk tyding, Kristiania: Det norske samlaget, p. 380