vega

vega¹ to weigh, lift

Forms

vega (strong)^[1]

Etymology

The word for “weigh, lift” is inherited from Proto-Germanic *weganą (“to move, carry”),^[1][2] with the cognates Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍅𐌹𐌲𐌰𐌽 (gawigan, “to shake, move”), Old English wegan (“to carry, bring”), Old Frisian wega (“to weigh, bring”), Old Saxon wegan (“to weigh”) and Old High German wegan (“to move, weigh”).^[2][3]

The Indo-European verb is Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- (“to convey, carry”), also behind Latin vehō (“to carry”), Ancient Greek ὀχέω (okhéō, “to carry”) and Lithuanian vežti (“to carry, drive”).^[4][3] Kroonen associates it with transport by cart and supposes that “weigh” grew out of “lift”.^[2] Its Old Norse relatives include vagn (“wagon”), vegr (“way”) and vætt (“weight”).^[5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Menota's record of vega begins with AM 677 4to (1200–1225), but its lemma does not separate this verb from vega “to fight”.^[6] On the Viking Age runestone Ög 31 Rundata reads the preterite vá in two ways, “bore a burden” or “carried his brother”, which would be the older sense “carry”; the reading is uncertain.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The oldest sense is “lift, carry”: hann vegr heyit upp á herðar sér “he heaves the hay onto his shoulders”, and in the poems a bride is “carried” to the house.^[8][9] From lifting came weighing on scales, then the intransitive “weigh, be of a weight”, and the figurative “esteem, value”.^[10][11] The laws use the verb only for weighing.^[12] In Skírnismál the reflexive vegask is said of the sword that will swing itself.^[13][9]

It continues as Icelandic vega, Swedish väga and Danish veje;^[4][14] Hellquist points out that Swedish “weigh a hectogram” is etymologically “lift a hectogram”.^[4][14]

Timeline

• 1276–1300 – forms of the verb in the law manuscript Holm perg 34 4to.^[15]

Meanings

Verb

1. to lift, raise; to carry, bring.^[10][16]
2. to weigh (on scales); figuratively, to esteem.^[10][11]
3. to be of a certain weight; to matter.^[10][11]
4. vegask: to move, swing (itself).^[13][9]

Word family

• vág
• vætt

Descendants

• Icelandic vega^[1]
• Faroese vega^[1]
• Norwegian Nynorsk vega^[1]
• Swedish väga^[1]
• Danish veje^[1]

vega² to fight, slay

Forms

vega (strong)^[1]

Etymology

The word for “fight, slay” is inherited from Proto-Germanic *wiganą (“to fight”),^[1][17] with the cognates Gothic 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐌰𐌽 (weihan), Old English wīgan and Old High German wīgan.^[17][4] Outside Germanic it is compared with Latin vincō (“to conquer”), Old Irish fichid (“fights”) and Lithuanian veikti (“to do, act”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyk- (“to fight”).^[17][4][1]

Kroonen takes the original present to have had zero grade, as in Gothic, and explains the Norse ⟨e⟩ as a shift into the vowel pattern of the fifth class.^[17] Torp also sees such a shift,^[18] while de Vries finds the relation to the Gothic verb not quite clear, rejects a derivation from the past participle, and traces the past tense to *waih.^[5] Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon notes that it fell together with the verb for “weigh” in three of its four principal parts: the infinitive, the past singular and the past participle.^[4] The noun víg (“fight, killing”) belongs to the same root.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Viking Age the runestone U 338 says of the dead man Honum vá at Vígmundr “Vígmundr struck him down”.^[19] Menota's first dated record that can be assigned to this verb is the text of Vǫluspá in GKS 2365 4to, of 1250–1300,^[20] where the poem has Þórr einn þar vá “Thor alone fought there”.^[21]

Semantic evolution

Zoëga's senses run from fighting with a weapon (vega með sverði), through attacking someone (vega at e-m) and winning by fighting (vega sigr, vega til landa), to slaying (vega mann, vega víg).^[10][22] The reflexive vegask is “fight one another”.^[22] In the poetry vega at e-m and vega við e-n are “lift the sword against someone”.^[21] It continues as Icelandic vega “kill”.^[4]

Timeline

• 1250–1300 – vega in the text of Vǫluspá in GKS 2365 4to.^[20]
• 1320–1350 – vegit, vá and vegask in Njáls saga in AM 132 fol.^[23]

Meanings

Verb

1. to fight, wield a weapon;^[10][24] vega at e-m to attack someone.^[10][24]
2. to win by fighting;^[10][22] vega sigr to gain the victory.^[10][22]
3. to slay, kill;^[10][22] vega víg to commit a killing.^[10][22]
4. vegask: to fight one another.^[22]

Word family

• vegandi

Descendants

• Icelandic vega^[1]
• Faroese vega^[1]