vǫkr

Forms

vǫkr adj (accusative singular masculine vǫkvan)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *wakwaz (“moist”).^[2][3][4] Its Germanic cognates are Middle Dutch wac (“damp”) and the English dialect word wack (“moist”).^[2][5]

Outside Germanic it is compared with Ancient Greek ὑγρός (hugrós, “wet”) and Latin ūvidus (“damp, wet”), after Osthoff.^[5][2] Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon adds, with hesitation, Old English ȳce (“toad”) and Old High German ūcha (“toad”), and Torp sets these beside it too.^[6][7] Köbler and Pokorny's root is Proto-Indo-European *wegʷ- (“moist; to wet”).^[3][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cleasby–Vigfússon, Fritzner and Zoëga quote it, without a date, from the text they cite as Stj.: líkamir vǫkvir ok vátir “bodies moist and wet”, and gefir mér nú vǫkva jǫrð “give me now well-watered land”, rendering Latin terram irriguam.^[9][10]

Semantic evolution

The adjective meant “moist, wet”, and of land “well watered”.^[10][1] From it Old Norse made the verbs vǫkna “to become wet” and vøkva “to wet, water”.^[6] It continues as Icelandic vökur “moist; juicy”.^[6][11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. moist, wet; of land, well watered.^[1][9][10]

Word family

• vǫkna
• vøkva

Descendants

• Icelandic vökur^[6]

Related words

• vǫk
• vǫkvi

References

1. ^ a b c Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. vökr
2. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 442
3. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
5. ^ a b de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 673
6. ^ a b c d Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. vökur
7. ^ Torp, Alf (1909), Wortschatz der germanischen Spracheinheit (Fick, Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der indogermanischen Sprachen, 4th ed., vol. 3), Göttingen, p. 381
8. ^ Slocum, Jonathan, ed., Indo-European Lexicon (after Pokorny), Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas at Austin, p. s.v. vǫkr
9. ^ a b Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 721
10. ^ a b c Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. vökr
11. ^ Sigfús Blöndal (1920–1924), Islandsk-dansk ordbog, Reykjavík, p. 962