teðja

Forms

teðja (singular past indicative taddi, plural past indicative tǫddu, past participle taddr) (weak class 1 (short stem))^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *tadjaną (“to strew; to dung”),^[1][2] a verb made from the noun behind tað (“dung”) and taða (“manured hayfield”).^[3][2][4] Its cognates are Old High German zetten (“to strew, spread”) and the English verb ted “to spread hay”.^[2][5][3]

Orel traces the noun to a participle of Proto-Indo-European *dā- (“to divide”), the root of Ancient Greek δατέομαι (datéomai, “to divide, distribute”);^[2][4] Köbler's Germanic dictionary gives the same root.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is teþia in AM 677 4to, of 1200–1225.^[7] Among Fritzner's quotations is láttu standa þat enn þessi misseri ok mon ek grafa hjá því ok teðja of rœtr þess “let it stand this season too, and I will dig around it and dung its roots”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The verb always means to manure land.^[9][10] In the Eddic poems the slaves' children of Rígsþula akra tǫddu “dunged the fields”, and in Atlamál a man boasts that he can teðja vel garða “manure the home fields well”.^[11][12] The Norwegian Landslǫg uses it of the duties of a tenant.^[8][13]

Icelandic keeps teðja “to spread dung on grassland”, also of horses dropping dung.^[4]

Timeline

• 1200–1225 – teþia in AM 677 4to.^[7]
• 1276–1300 – teði, taddi and tatt in the Landslǫg of Magnús lagabœtir, Holm perg 34 4to.^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. to dung, manure a field or home meadow.^[9][10][8]

Descendants

• Icelandic teðja^[1]

Related words

• tað
• taða

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 398
3. ^ a b de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 584
4. ^ a b c Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. teðja
5. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
6. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
7. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 677 4to
8. ^ a b c Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. teðja
9. ^ a b Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. teðja
10. ^ a b Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 627
11. ^ Gering, Hugo (1903), Vollständiges Wörterbuch zu den Liedern der Edda, Halle: Waisenhaus, p. col. 1031
12. ^ Finnur Jónsson (1931), Lexicon Poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, 2nd ed., Copenhagen: S. L. Møller, p. 565
13. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. Holm perg 34 4to