slǿgr

Forms

slǿgr^[1] Also written slœgr;^[1][2] Cleasby–Vigfússon head it slægr, with comparative slægri beside slægari.^[3] Runic superlative slyiastr “most skilful” on the Swedish runestone U 1011.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *slōgiz (“able to strike; clever”),^[1][6] a verbal adjective made on the preterite stem of the strong verb Proto-Germanic *slahaną (“to strike”) (slá).^[7][8] De Vries gives the Proto-Norse form as *slōgjaʀ, and Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon the stem as *slōgia-.^[9][8] The verb is common Germanic (Gothic 𐍃𐌻𐌰𐌷𐌰𐌽 (slahan), Old English slēan, Old Saxon slahan, Old High German slahan), but the adjective is found only in Scandinavian until it appears in Middle English.^[7][10] The first sense was thus “able to strike”; Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon traces the sense line from “handy” through “skilled” and “shrewd” to “cunning, sly”.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest form is the Viking Age Swedish runestone U 1011, on which Vígmundr calls himself slyiastr mono, normalised slœgjastr manna “the most skilful of men”, in the older, favourable sense.^[5][4] In manuscripts it is first dated in AM 677 4to (1200–1225), with the forms slǿgr, slǿgri, slǿgir and slǿgjum.^[11]

Semantic evolution

In the prose the word usually means “sly, crafty”: Fritzner quotes slœgir menn eggja reiði guðs yfir sik “sly men provoke God's anger against themselves”, and the serpent of Genesis is öllum kykvendum slœgri “slier than all creatures”.^[12] Finnur Jónsson notes that in poetry it is not always meant badly, and can praise a man as clever.^[13] Icelandic keeps it as slægur “cunning, sly”, and the noun slǿgð “cunning” is derived from it.^[8] Middle English borrowed it as sleigh (“wise, clever, skilful; cunning”), recorded in the Ormulum of about 1175, and it became English sly.^[14][7][15]

Timeline

• Viking Age – superlative slyiastr on the runestone U 1011.^[5]
• 1200–1225 – slǿgr and slǿgri in AM 677 4to.^[11]
• 1270–1290 – superlative slǿgasti in AM 519 a 4to.^[16]
• 1320–1350 – slǿgr in Njáls saga in AM 132 fol.^[17]
• c. 1175 – Middle English sleh in the Ormulum.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. sly, cunning, crafty.^[2][3][12]
2. skilful, clever.^[4][18][13]

Word family

• slǿgð
• slǿgja
• óslǿgr
• orðslǿgr

Descendants

• Icelandic slægur^[1]
• Norwegian Nynorsk sløg^[1]
• Swedish slög^[1]
• Old Danish sløv^[1]
• Middle English sleigh (English sly)^[14][7]

Related words

• slá

Usage notes

A noun slœgr “gain, advantage”, as in meiri slœgr til hans “more to be had from him”, is spelled the same; Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon derives it from the same verb slá.^[2][8][19]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. slœgr
3. ^ a b Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 570
4. ^ a b c Peterson, Lena (2006), Svenskt runordsregister, 3rd rev. ed., Runrön 2, Uppsala: Institutionen för nordiska språk
5. ^ a b c Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata 3.1), Uppsala universitet (inscriptions by signum), p. U 1011
6. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
7. ^ a b c d Dance, Richard; Pons-Sanz, Sara; Schorn, Brittany, eds., The Gersum Project: The Scandinavian Influence on English Vocabulary, gersum.org
8. ^ a b c d e Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. slægur
9. ^ de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 518
10. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 452
11. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 677 4to
12. ^ a b Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. slœgr
13. ^ a b Finnur Jónsson (1931), Lexicon Poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, 2nd ed., Copenhagen: S. L. Møller, p. 520
14. ^ a b c 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. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
16. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 519 a 4to
17. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 132 fol
18. ^ 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. slœgr
19. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Altnordisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary database copy), p. s.v. slœgr