snubba

Forms

snubba (past snubbaði)^[1][2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *snū̆ƀ- (“to cut short, trim”), a stem reconstructed by Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon.^[3] Its original sense was “to blunt, cut short”, as in Norwegian Nynorsk snubba (“to cut short; to rebuke”) and Danish snubbe (“to blunt”).^[4][3] Ásgeir takes the stem as an alternating form of the stem in sneypa (“to disgrace”) and snoppa (“snout”), and compares Middle Low German snoven (“to stumble”).^[3] De Vries sets beside it forms with ⟨p⟩, such as Swedish snoppa (“to cut off”), citing Bloomfield on the alternation of ⟨p⟩ and ⟨bb⟩.^[4] Torp gives the Indo-European root as Proto-Indo-European *sknub(h)-.^[5]

English snub is a borrowing of this verb.^[6][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

No dated record is held: ONP's article falls outside the part held (a–risla), Menota has no lemma, and de Vries calls the verb late.^[4] Fritzner's quotations come from translated religious and chivalric prose, among them a saint's life: Nicholaus snubbar þá djöfulinn hart “Nicholas then rebukes the devil sharply”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Old Norse only the sense “to rebuke, chide” is recorded, often of rebuking the devil, and with um or af for the cause.^[2][7] The physical sense survives in the modern languages: Icelandic snubba also means to take the edge off a blade, and Norwegian snubba to cut short.^[3] Cleasby and Vigfússon derive modern Icelandic snupra “to scold” from it.^[7] English snub first meant “to check, rebuke”;^[6] “cut short” is recorded from the 1610s and “treat coldly” from the early 18th century.^[6]

Timeline

• mid-14th century – English snub “to check, rebuke”.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. to rebuke, chide, scold.^[1][7][2]

Noun

1. a rebuke, chiding.^[1][8]

Word family

• snubban

Descendants

• Icelandic snubba^[3]
• Norwegian Nynorsk snubba^[3]
• English snub^[6]

Related words

• sneypa
• snoppa
• snopa

References

1. ^ a b c Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. snubba
2. ^ a b c d Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. snubba
3. ^ a b c d e f Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. snubba
4. ^ a b c de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 526
5. ^ a b Torp, Alf (1909), Wortschatz der germanischen Spracheinheit (Fick, Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der indogermanischen Sprachen, 4th ed., vol. 3), Göttingen, p. 525
6. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 576
8. ^ Hægstad, Marius; Torp, Alf (1909), Gamalnorsk ordbok med nynorsk tyding, Kristiania: Det norske samlaget, p. 415