upp

Forms

upp adverb^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *upp (“up”),^[2][3] the source also of Old English upp, Old Frisian up and Old Saxon up.^[4][5] Gothic 𐌹𐌿𐍀 (iup) has another ablaut grade, and Old High German ūf a long vowel.^[6][4] Orel takes the “-pp-” as a doubling of the stem of Proto-Germanic *uba, which Johansson explained from “*up-nó”,^[4] and Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon relates it to of (“over”) and yfir (“over”).^[6] Köbler traces it to Proto-Indo-European *upo (“under, up”), and de Vries and Falk and Torp compare Latin sub (“under”).^[3][5][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

IcePaHC first has upp in the Icelandic Homily Book, which it dates to 1150.^[8] Menota's earliest dated records are the Norwegian fragment NRA norr fragm 81 B of 1150–1250 and the runic inscription N 149 of about 1180, from a church: Guð blezi … svá hvern þann sem upp heldr “God bless … also whoever keeps it up”.^[9][10]

Semantic evolution

Beside direction upward, upp means inland from the sea or shore, as in upp ok út “inland and out to sea”, and open, as in lúka upp “to open”.^[11][12] With verbs it marks completion, as brenna upp “to burn up” and eta upp “to eat up”, and discovery, as spyrja upp “to find out”.^[1][11] Of time, upp frá því means “from then on”.^[1][13] Cleasby and Vigfússon derived Danish paa from upp á.^[14] The adverb continues in Icelandic upp, Swedish upp and Danish op.^[15][7]

Timeline

• 1150 – upp in the Icelandic Homily Book, by IcePaHC's dating.^[8]
• 1150–1250 – upp in the Norwegian fragment NRA norr fragm 81 B.^[9]
• c. 1180 – up hæl(t)(a)(r) “keeps up” on the runic inscription N 149.^[10]
• 1200–1225 – upp in AM 619 4to and AM 677 4to.^[16][17]

Meanings

Adverb

1. up, upward;^[1][14] upp ok niðr up and down.^[1][14]
2. inland from the sea or shore; ashore.^[11][18]
3. open, as in lúka upp to open.^[11]
4. completely, so that nothing is left: drekka upp to drink up, brenna upp to burn up.^[1][11]
5. marking discovery: spyrja upp to find out.^[1]
6. of time: upp frá því ever since, upp heðan henceforth.^[1]
7. upp á upon, on.^[1]

Word family

• upphaf
• uppganga
• uppruni
• uppreist

Descendants

• Icelandic upp^[2]
• Faroese upp^[2]
• Norwegian Nynorsk upp^[2]
• Old Swedish up^[2]
• Swedish upp^[2]
• Danish op^[2]
• Norwegian Bokmål opp^[2]

Related words

• uppi
• of
• yfir
• opinn
• yppa

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. upp
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
3. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
4. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 435
5. ^ a b de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 635
6. ^ a b Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. upp
7. ^ a b Falk, Hjalmar; Torp, Alf (1910–1911), Norwegisch-dänisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg, p. s.v. op
8. ^ a b Wallenberg, Joel C.; Ingason, Anton Karl; Sigurðsson, Einar Freyr; Rögnvaldsson, Eiríkur, Icelandic Parsed Historical Corpus, version 0.9
9. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. NRA norr fragm 81 B
10. ^ a b Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata 3.1), Uppsala universitet (inscriptions by signum), p. N 149
11. ^ a b c d e Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. upp
12. ^ Hægstad, Marius; Torp, Alf (1909), Gamalnorsk ordbok med nynorsk tyding, Kristiania: Det norske samlaget, p. 498
13. ^ Hertzberg, Ebbe (1895), Glossarium, in Norges gamle Love indtil 1387, vol. 5, Christiania, p. 667
14. ^ a b c Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 655
15. ^ Hellquist, Elof (1922), Svensk etymologisk ordbok, Lund, p. s.v. upp
16. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 619 4to
17. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 677 4to
18. ^ 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. upp