Tag Archives: Old English

Das Fing an Sich

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finger

A word inherited from Germanic.

Cognate with Old Frisian finger, Old Saxon fingar (Middle Low German finger), Old Dutch fingar (Middle Dutch, Dutch vinger), Old High German fingar (Middle High German vinger, German Finger), Old Icelandic fingr, Old Swedish finger (Swedish finger), Old Danish fingær (Danish finger), Gothic figgrs.

Further etymology uncertain, perhaps < a suffixed form of the Indo-European base of five adj., cognate with Old Frisian fīf (West Frisian fiif), Old Saxon fīf (Middle Low German vīf), Old Dutch fīf (Middle Dutch, Dutch vijf), Old High German fimf, finf, funf (Middle High German vünf, German fünf  (although this presents semantic difficulties with regard to the function of the suffix), or perhaps < a suffixed form of the Indo-European base of fang v., Old English fón, reduplicated strong verb corresponding to Old Frisian fâ, Old Saxon fâhan, Old High German fâhan (Middle High German vâhen, modern German (poet) fahen), Old Norse fá (although this presents phonological difficulties).

Compare fist n., Old English fýst strong feminine corresponds to Old Frisian fêst, Middle Low German fûst (Dutch vuist), Old High German fûst (Middle High German vûst, modern German Faust) < West Germanic *fûsti.

fist

A word inherited from Germanic.

Old English fýst strong feminine corresponds to Old Frisian fêst, Middle Low German fûst (Dutch vuist), Old High German fûst (Middle High German vûst, modern German Faust) < West Germanic *fûsti.

Notes

By some scholars this is referred to an Old Germanic form *fûhsti-z, *funhsti-z < pre-Germanic *pṇqstis (whence Old Church Slavonic pęstĭ of same meaning), < ablaut-variant of *penqe, five adj. & n., cognate with Old Frisian fīf (West Frisian fiif), Old Saxon fīf (Middle Low German vīf), Old Dutch fīf (Middle Dutch, Dutch vijf), Old High German fimf, finf, funf (Middle High German vünf).

• from the Oxford English Dictionary

Green Grass Growing

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green (adj.)

Old English grene, Northumbrian groene “green, of the color of living plants,” in reference to plants, “growing, living, vigorous,” also figurative, of a plant, “freshly cut,” of wood, “unseasoned” earlier groeni, from Proto-Germanic *grōni- (source also of Old Saxon grani, Old Frisian grene, Old Norse grænn, Danish grøn, Dutch groen, Old High German gruoni, German grün), from PIE root *ghre- “grow” (see grass), through sense of “color of growing plants.”

grass (n.)

Old English græs, gærs “herb, plant, grass,” from Proto-Germanic *grasan, which, according to Watkins, is from PIE *ghros- “young shoot, sprout,” from root *ghre- “to grow, become green,” thus related to grow and green, but not to Latin grāmen “grass, plant, herb.”

grow (v.)

Middle English grouen, from Old English growan (of plants) “to flourish, increase, develop, get bigger” (class VII strong verb; past tense greow, past participle growen), from Proto-Germanic *gro-, from PIE root *ghre- “to grow, become green” (see grass).

• EtymOnline

Le Neige d’Antan

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snow (n.) Middle English snou, from Old English snaw “snow, that which falls as snow; a fall of snow; a snowstorm,” from Proto-Germanic *snaiwaz (source also of Old Saxon and Old High German sneo, Old Frisian and Middle Low German sne, Middle Dutch snee, Dutch sneeuw, German Schnee, Old Norse snjor, Gothic snaiws “snow”), from PIE root *sniegwh– “snow; to snow” (source also of Greek νίφα, nipha, Latin nix (genitive nivis), Old Irish snechta, Irish sneachd, Welsh nyf, Lithuanian sniegas, Old Prussian snaygis, Old Church Slavonic snegu, Russian snieg’, Slovak sneh “snow”). The cognate in Sanskrit, स्निह्यति snihyati, came to mean “he gets wet.” — “Snow” at EtymOnline