veikr

Forms

veikr^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *waikwaz (“weak, pliable”),^[1][2] which Kroonen writes *waika-.^[3] Its cognates are Old English wāc (“weak”), Old Saxon wēk (“weak”), Dutch week (“soft, weak”) and Old High German weih (“soft, weak”).^[3][4] Kroonen and Orel explain it as an adjective made to the strong verb Proto-Germanic *wīkwaną (“to yield”) (Norse víkja),^[5] so that it first meant “giving way”;^[3][4] Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon compares Slovene vẹ́gati (“to stagger”).^[6] De Vries mentions Trier's view that “soft” first meant the pliable wattle of a fence or house wall.^[7]

The older form ⟨veykr⟩ goes back to ⟨*weikwaR⟩, with ⟨w⟩ in the stem, which the accusative ⟨veykvan⟩ keeps.^[7][8] Torp explains ⟨veykr⟩ as influenced by vikva.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

ONP has no article for the word (its articles stop at risla). The earliest dated records are in Menota's manuscripts of the second half of the 13th century: veikr, veikir and the comparative veikare in Holm perg 6 fol of 1250–1300.^[10] Cleasby and Vigfússon quote hornbogi veykr “a weak bow of horn” from the King's Mirror (their Sks.).^[11]

Semantic evolution

Old Norse used the word for things that give way, such as a bow, a pillar or a reed, and for people lacking strength;^[11][12] Cleasby and Vigfússon add the sense “sickly, ill”.^[11] Icelandic veikur means “weak, unstable; sick”, and the nouns veiki and veikindi and the verb veikja are formed from it.^[6] English weak, first recorded about 1300, is from the Norse adjective, beside the native wāc.^[13][14]

Timeline

• 1250–1300 – veikr, veikare in the manuscript Holm perg 6 fol.^[10]
• 1270–1280 – veycr in the manuscript AM 243 bα fol.^[15]
• c. 1300 – English weik “lacking strength”.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. pliant, yielding, soft.^[12][16]
2. weak, feeble.^[17][11]
3. sickly, ill.^[11]

Word family

• veikja
• ofveikr

Descendants

• Icelandic veikur^[1]
• Faroese veikur^[1]
• Norwegian Nynorsk veik^[1]
• Swedish vek^[1]
• Danish veg^[1]
• Middle English weik^[13]
• English weak^[14]

Related words

• víkja
• vákr

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
3. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 567
4. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 440
5. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Altnordisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary database copy), p. s.v. veikr
6. ^ a b Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. veikur
7. ^ a b de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 651
8. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 378
9. ^ Torp, Alf (1909), Wortschatz der germanischen Spracheinheit (Fick, Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der indogermanischen Sprachen, 4th ed., vol. 3), Göttingen, p. 407
10. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. Holm perg 6 fol
11. ^ a b c d e Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 690
12. ^ a b Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. veikr
13. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
14. ^ a b Dance, Richard; Pons-Sanz, Sara; Schorn, Brittany, eds., The Gersum Project: The Scandinavian Influence on English Vocabulary, gersum.org
15. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 243 bα fol
16. ^ Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 709
17. ^ Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. veikr