uggligr

Forms

uggligr^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Old Norse uggr (“fear, apprehension”) + -ligr.^[1][2][3] The noun stands beside the verb ugga (“to fear”) and the variant yggr (“fear”).^[2][4]

Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon thinks these words are certainly related to uggi (“fin”), with the first meaning “something that pricks or troubles”, and that they are usually put with agg (“strife”) and egg² (“edge”) under the root Proto-Indo-European *aḱ- (“to prick”); he takes the ablaut ⟨ag-⟩ : ⟨ug-⟩ to be a late Germanic formation.^[2] Jóhannesson also puts the word under this root.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Menota records the word once, as uggligt in the manuscript AM 677 4to, dated 1200–1225.^[6] Cleasby and Vigfússon cite it from several prose texts as well as a verse.^[7]

Semantic evolution

In prose it is used mostly in the neuter, e-t þykkir uggligt “something seems to be feared”, which led to the sense “doubtful, uncertain” in er þat uggligt, hvárt… “it is doubtful whether…”.^[8][9] It is rare: Menota has one token, and IcePaHC and the Saga Corpus none before 1550.^[6][10]

Icelandic has ugglegur, and English ugly comes from a Scandinavian word of this kind, first recorded in the mid-thirteenth century as uglike “frightful in appearance”; its sense softened to “unsightly” by the late fourteenth century.^[2][3] Cleasby and Vigfússon had already proposed the connection, with a query.^[7]

Timeline

• 1200–1225 – uggligt in the manuscript AM 677 4to.^[6]
• Mid-13th century – Middle English uglike “frightful”, from a Scandinavian source.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. to be feared, dreadful.^[8][7][11]
2. doubtful, uncertain.^[8][9]

Descendants

• Icelandic ugglegur^[2]
• Middle English uglike, whence ugly^[3]

Related words

• ógurligr
• ógnarligr
• ugga
• uggr
• yggr
• uggi

Usage notes

Cox rejects the derivation of the adjective Scottish Gaelic oglaidh (“changeable; fearsome”) from this word.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. ugga
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Altnordisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary database copy), p. s.v. uggr
5. ^ Jóhannesson, Alexander (1956), Isländisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern, p. 13
6. ^ a b c Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 677 4to
7. ^ a b c Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 648
8. ^ a b c Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. uggligr
9. ^ a b Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. uggligr
10. ^ Wallenberg, Joel C.; Ingason, Anton Karl; Sigurðsson, Einar Freyr; Rögnvaldsson, Eiríkur, Icelandic Parsed Historical Corpus, version 0.9
11. ^ Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 671
12. ^ Cox, Richard A. V. (2024–2026), Old Norse Loan-Words in Scottish Gaelic, Clann Tuirc, richardavcox.scot/ONlwSG, p. s.v. oglaidh