yfir

Forms

yfir^[1] Viking Age runic spellings: yfiR, ifiR, ufiR.^[2] Old Norwegian manuscripts also write ivir and ifer.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *ubiri (“over, above”),^[1] which is Proto-Indo-European *upéri, from *upér.^[1] The Germanic word is Gothic 𐌿𐍆𐌰𐍂 (ufar), Old English ofer, Old Saxon obar and Old High German ubar, adverb ubiri.^[5][6] Outside Germanic it matches Latin super and Ancient Greek ὑπέρ (hupér),^[6][7] and Hellquist adds Old Irish for.^[8]

De Vries and Hellquist explain it as a comparative formation to of, which is Proto-Indo-European *upo in Hellquist's account.^[6][8] In the old manuscripts ⟨of⟩ often stands where later texts have ⟨yfir⟩, and Finnur Jónsson calls ⟨of⟩ its older form.^[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Swedish runestones of the Viking Age already have the word, as on Ög 52: þeir brœðr létu leggja … þenna yfir Jórhildi “these brothers had this … laid over Jórhildr”.^[11][2] In manuscripts it is first dated in Menota's Norwegian fragment NRA norr fragm 81 A, of 1150–1250, which writes yfir and yuir.^[12]

Semantic evolution

With the dative yfir meant “over, above” at rest, and with the accusative “over, across” in motion.^[13][14] Figurative uses grew out of both: rule over a land (konungr yfir Englandi), watching over the sick, sitting at table or over cases as a judge, and “beyond, more than”.^[9][13] In the poetry it mostly follows its noun, as in fljúga vǫll yfir “fly over the plain”, and only late comes before it.^[10]

It continues as Icelandic yfir, Swedish över and Danish over.^[7][8]

Timeline

• 1150–1250 – yfir and yuir in the fragment NRA norr fragm 81 A.^[12]
• 1200–1225 – yfir, yvir in AM 677 4to.^[15]
• 1225–1250 – the Old Norwegian spelling ivir in DG 8 II.^[3]
• 1250–1300 – yfir in GKS 2365 4to.^[16]

Meanings

Preposition

1. with the dative: over, above.^[13][14]
2. with the dative: in authority over, ruling over.^[13][9]
3. with the accusative: over, across, through.^[13]
4. with the accusative, figurative: beyond, more than.^[13]

Adverb

1. over, across.^[17][13]

Word family

• yfirbragð

Descendants

• Icelandic yfir^[1]
• Faroese yvir^[1]
• Norwegian Nynorsk yver^[1]
• Swedish över^[1]
• Danish over^[1]
• Norwegian Bokmål over^[1]

Related words

• of
• ofar
• yfrinn
• øfri

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Peterson, Lena (2006), Svenskt runordsregister, 3rd rev. ed., Runrön 2, Uppsala: Institutionen för nordiska språk
3. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. DG 8 II
4. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. NRA norr fragm 58 C
5. ^ Torp, Alf (1909), Wortschatz der germanischen Spracheinheit (Fick, Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der indogermanischen Sprachen, 4th ed., vol. 3), Göttingen, p. 31
6. ^ a b c de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 676
7. ^ a b Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. yfir
8. ^ a b c Hellquist, Elof (1922), Svensk etymologisk ordbok, Lund, p. s.v. över
9. ^ a b c Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 723
10. ^ a b Finnur Jónsson (1931), Lexicon Poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, 2nd ed., Copenhagen: S. L. Møller, p. 631
11. ^ Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata 3.1), Uppsala universitet (inscriptions by signum), p. Ög 52
12. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. NRA norr fragm 81 A
13. ^ a b c d e f g Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. yfir
14. ^ a b Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 757
15. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 677 4to
16. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. GKS 2365 4to
17. ^ 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. yfir