Altfriesisch *gēda und *gēta

Abstract

Middle English gēten ‘to watch over, protect’ is usually considered to be a Norse loanword, just as the North Frisian cognates giitje, juate etc. ‘to tend cattle’ from Old Norse gæta. An Old Frisian gēta is mentioned in earlier etymological discussions but does no longer appear in the Old Frisian dictionary (Hofmann/Popkema 2008), that mentions two homonyms gēda, both unrelated to ME gēten. An evaluation of the Old Frisian attestations and the North Frisian material reconfirms the existence of an Old Frisian gēta ‘to watch over’. Attested in Old West Frisian and North Frisian, it can be interpreted as an inherited West Germanic word. Alongside it, there was an OFri. gēda ‘to improve; to use’ that was unrelated to the former, with cognates attested in both Old West Frisian and North Frisian. ME gēten was therefore probably of West Germanic origin as well, possibly preserved through ‘lexical support’ from Norse, a scenario that can also apply to the modern North Frisian attestations.