Notes on the Etymologies of Englishbigand Gothicga-

Abstract

During the Northwest Germanic period, *ɣaβiɣs ‘rich’ (Go. gabigs / gabeigs ‘rich’ < giban ‘to give’) and related forms (Go. gabigjan ‘to make rich’, gabignan ‘to be rich’) were reanalyzed as consisting of the prefix *ɣa- + root. This reanalysis was triggered by the prevailing Germanic stress pattern (indicated where necessary by a raised tick '), since *ɣaβiɣs was stressed on the first syllable of the root (thus *'ɣaβiɣs). while nominal and adjectival compounds that consisted of *ɣa- + root ('ga-qumps ‘assembly’, 'ga-fulgins ‘hidden’, 'ga-hails ‘hale’) were stressed on the prefix. Thus, an extrapolated root form *ɣiγ- > *biγ- was created that then existed parallel to *γaβiγs in Northwest Germanic. The newly created form *biγs survived and developed into ME big(ge) ‘strong, sturdy’ (> Eng. big), while OE gifig, ON g˛fugr ‘noble’, and related forms in Old High German and Gothic are reflexes of *ɣaβiɣs.

Words derived from Old Norse inSir Gawain and the Green Knight: An etymological survey

“…On these and a few other ideas see further Austin (). A more recent outlier is the suggestion in Davis () that the word is related to Go gab(e)igs ‘rich’ (and hence ult. to the a ‐grade of Go giban ‘to give’) (Liberman : 13).…”

Philip Durkin, The Oxford guide to etymology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. Pp. x +350. Hardback £25.00.

“…Inevitably, specialists will take issue with matters of presentation, fact, or detail, particularly in regard to the enduring cruxes. Davis (2000) proposes an etymology that traces English big back to Proto-Germanic times. Durkin notes the regional use of bugge 'mighty man' and bugga 'rich, wealthy, powerful' in modern Norwegian, but asserts that there is no obvious etymon recorded in the early stages of any of the Scandinavian languages.…”

“…I agree that these data are inconclusive, though in etymologizing this word, one must determine whether congeners in other Germanic dialects are extant but masked by accretions of phonological, morphological and/or semantic change. Davis (2000) proposes an etymology that traces English big back to Proto-Germanic times. This hypothesis, too, may be wrong, but it does take the requisite heuristic step.…”