slentyng

n. (vbl. n.)

‘slanting flight, shooting’, or perhaps ‘sleet’? (Modern English )

Etymology

Always derived from ON, either via the ME verb slenten (see MED s.v.) or an ON vbl. n.  Cp. the wk. v. represented by OIcel sletta ‘to slap, dab’ (Icel sletta ‘to splash, spatter, sprinkle’, Norw sletta ‘to fling from oneself’), < earlier *slenta < PGmc *slantjan-, a causative formation on the PGmc root *slent- (cp. the strong verbs Norw sletta ‘to dangle, dawdle’, Sw slinta ‘to slip’, Norw dial slenta, Dan slente ‘to glide’). This root is rare outside NGmc, but Du slenteren, HG dial. schlenzen ‘to stroll’ have also been cited as derived from PGmc *slant-. There are also direct analogues to the vbl. n. in Scandinavian languages, viz. Icel, Far slettingur ‘that which splashes or sprinkles; sleet’ (< sletta; see Mag. s.v. slettingur), and this might make for a more apposite image in context in Gaw (‘slentyng of arwes’, i.e. ‘a sleet of arrows’)(Simpson (1981: 303–4). 

PGmc Ancestor

*slent- or *slant-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

cp. sletta (v.) ‘to slap, dab’
(ONP sletta (vb.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Far sletta, Icel sletta, Norw sletta; Norw sletta, Norw dial slinta, Dan slente, Sw slinta; Far slettingur , Icel slettingur 

OE Cognate

Phonological and morphological markers

Summary category

BB2

Attestation

Although the vbl n. is a hapax legomenon, the v. slenten (see MED s.v.) occurs in ME without apparent dialectal restriction; OED cites some instances of the v. in various MnE dial.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Gaw 1160

Madden read sleutyng at Gaw 1160, but this was corrected by Morris.

Bibliography

MED slenting (ger.) , OED slent (v.1) , HTOED , Dance slentyng, Bj. 219, de Vries sletta, Mag. sletta (2)