tveir

Forms

tveir (feminine tvær, neuter tvau)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *twai (“two”),^[1][2][3] the numeral also in Gothic 𐍄𐍅𐌰𐌹 (twai), Old English twēgen, Old Saxon twēne and Old High German zwēne.^[2][4] Kroonen reconstructs the Proto-Germanic forms as masculine *twai, accusative *twans, feminine *twōz, genitive *twajjan and dative *twaimiz, which give Old Norse “tvá”, “tvær”, “tveggja” and “tveim(r)”.^[2] De Vries takes “tveir” as a new formation on Proto-Norse *twai, and Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon explains it as “*twai” with the plural ending “-ʀ”.^[5][6]

The numeral continues Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ (“two”),^[1] the source also of Latin duo, Ancient Greek δύο (dúo) and Proto-Slavic *dъva.^[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest dated record is the Swedish Rök stone (Ög 136), which Rundata dates to the ninth century; its text has the feminine tuaR “two” and the masculine kunukaR tuaiR “two kings”.^[7] In Norwegian manuscripts it is first dated in the fragment NRA norr fragm 81 A of 1150–1250, with tvær.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Beside the plain numeral, tveir gives set phrases: báðir tveir “both”, tveim hǫndum “with both hands”, í tvau “in two, asunder”, and the proverb tveimr er tveggja hugr “two men, two minds”.^[9][10] In verse tvær can stand for “both”, as in rjóða tvær eggjar “to redden both edges”.^[11]

Icelandic tveir and Faroese tveir keep the nominative, while Swedish två and Danish to continue the masculine accusative tvá.^[6][12]

Timeline

• 800s – tuaR and tuaiR on the Rök stone, Ög 136.^[7]
• 1150–1250 – tvær in the Norwegian fragment NRA norr fragm 81 A.^[8]
• 1200–1225 – tveir, tvá, tvær, tveim and tveggja in AM 619 4to and AM 677 4to.^[13][14]
• 1250 – tveir in Sturlunga saga, by IcePaHC's dating.^[15]

Meanings

Numeral

1. two.^[10][9]
2. (poetic) both.^[11][16]

Descendants

• Icelandic tveir^[1]
• Faroese tveir^[1]
• Norwegian Nynorsk tvo^[1]
• Swedish två^[1]
• Danish to^[12]

Related words

• tvennr
• tvisvar
• tvinni
• tvistra
• tólf
• tuttugu

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 529
3. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
4. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 414
5. ^ de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 601
6. ^ a b c Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. tveir
7. ^ a b Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata 3.1), Uppsala universitet (inscriptions by signum), p. Ög 136
8. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. NRA norr fragm 81 A
9. ^ a b Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 645
10. ^ a b Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. tveir
11. ^ a b Sveinbjörn Egilsson (1860), Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, Hafniæ: Societas regia antiquariorum septentrionalium, p. 826
12. ^ a b Hellquist, Elof (1922), Svensk etymologisk ordbok, Lund, p. s.v. två
13. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 619 4to
14. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 677 4to
15. ^ Wallenberg, Joel C.; Ingason, Anton Karl; Sigurðsson, Einar Freyr; Rögnvaldsson, Eiríkur, Icelandic Parsed Historical Corpus, version 0.9
16. ^ 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. tveir