steik

Forms

steik f (genitive steikar, plural steikar)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *staikō (“stick, spit”),^[2][3] and belongs with the verb steikja (“to roast”).^[4][5] Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon thinks the verb is probably made from the noun.^[3]

The original meaning was probably “meat on a spit”, or the spit with the meat.^[3][5][6] The word is related to stikna (“to be roasted”) and stikill, and further to Latin īnstīgō (“to goad, incite”) and Ancient Greek στίζω (stízō, “to prick”),^[3] and to Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌹𐌺𐍃 (stiks, “point”).^[7] Köbler gives the root as Proto-Indo-European *steyg- (“to stick, prick”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is in the Norwegian fragment NRA norr fragm 52 of 1200–1250, in the forms steik and steíc.^[8] Larsson lists ſteic in one of the oldest Icelandic manuscripts.^[9] In a passage Fritzner and Möbius quote, a dwarf hafði steik við eld af einum villigelti miklum ok feitum “had a roast of a great fat wild boar at the fire”.^[10][11]

Semantic evolution

In prose the word means a roast.^[1][12] The Norwegian laws use it in rules on taking a lamb or an ox for a roast, afla steikar.^[13][10] In skaldic verse it can mean food in general, and kennings such as ara steik “the eagle's meat” mean corpses on the battlefield.^[14][15]

It continues as Icelandic and Faroese steik, Swedish stek and Danish steg.^[5] Middle English steike, the source of steak, is from Old Norse,^[16][5][6] and Etymonline dates the English word to the mid-15th century.^[17] De Vries also derives Middle Irish stáic and Scottish Gaelic staoig from it.^[5]

Timeline

• 1200–1250 – steik in the Norwegian fragment NRA norr fragm 52.^[8]
• 1260–1290 – steicarnar and steikenne in Strengleikar, in DG 4–7.^[18]
• 1440 – Middle English steyke, glossed carbonella, from Old Norse.^[16]
• 1480 – steik in Jarlmanns saga, by IcePaHC's dating.^[19]

Meanings

Noun

1. a roast, a piece of meat for roasting, a steak.^[1][12][20]
2. (poetic) food, prey.^[14][21]

Descendants

• Icelandic steik^[4]
• Faroese steik^[4]
• Norwegian Nynorsk steik^[4]
• Norwegian Bokmål steik^[4]
• Swedish stek^[4]
• Danish steg^[4]
• Middle English steike (→ English steak)^[16][17]
• Scottish Gaelic staoig^[5]

Related words

• steikja
• stikna

References

1. ^ a b c Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. steik
2. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
3. ^ a b c d Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. steik
4. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
5. ^ a b c d e f de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 545
6. ^ a b Falk, Hjalmar; Torp, Alf (1910–1911), Norwegisch-dänisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg, p. s.v. steg
7. ^ Jóhannesson, Alexander (1956), Isländisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern, p. 860
8. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. NRA norr fragm 52
9. ^ Larsson, Ludvig (1891), Ordförrådet i de älsta islänska handskrifterna, Lund: Ph. Lindstedt, p. 312
10. ^ a b Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. steik
11. ^ Möbius, Theodor (1866), Altnordisches Glossar, Leipzig: Teubner, p. 410
12. ^ a b Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 590
13. ^ Hertzberg, Ebbe (1895), Glossarium, in Norges gamle Love indtil 1387, vol. 5, Christiania, p. 608
14. ^ a b Finnur Jónsson (1931), Lexicon Poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, 2nd ed., Copenhagen: S. L. Møller, p. 535
15. ^ Meissner, Rudolf (1921), Die Kenningar der Skalden, Bonn & Leipzig, p. 203
16. ^ 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)
17. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
18. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. DG 4–7
19. ^ Wallenberg, Joel C.; Ingason, Anton Karl; Sigurðsson, Einar Freyr; Rögnvaldsson, Eiríkur, Icelandic Parsed Historical Corpus, version 0.9
20. ^ Hægstad, Marius; Torp, Alf (1909), Gamalnorsk ordbok med nynorsk tyding, Kristiania: Det norske samlaget, p. 428
21. ^ Sveinbjörn Egilsson (1860), Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, Hafniæ: Societas regia antiquariorum septentrionalium, p. 774