Etymology

Some commentators derive ME fonge directly from ON, cp. OIcel fanga ‘to fetch, capture’ (wk. 2) (so Kullnick 14, and TGD (which lists ON fanga next to OE fōn)), but most are content to regard it as a native development: i.e. the creation of a new wk. v. on the pp. stem of the OE str. VI fōn ‘to grasp, catch (etc.)’ (cp. OIcel fá, Go fāhan, etc., < PGmc *fanxan-), and thus analogous to the similar forms which evolved in both Scandinavia and in continental WGmc (cp. MLG vangen, Du vangen, Ger fangen).

PGmc Ancestor

*fanxan-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

fanga ‘to fetch, capture’
(ONP fanga (2) (vb.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Far fanga, Icel fanga, Norw fanga, Dan fange, OSw fænga

OE Cognate

fōn ‘to grasp, catch (etc.)’ (pp. fangen)

Phonological and morphological markers

Summary category

CCC1ac

Attestation

MED’s citations are dominated by N and alliterative texts, but also include a range of other sources (inc. Gower, Chaucer, Trevisa and Owl & Nightingale); attested in a variety of MnE dial.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Gaw 391, 646, 816 etc.; Pe 439, 479, 884; Cl 457, 540; WA 1990, 2028, 2059 etc.

Gaw 646 MS fong (past sg.) is emended to *feng by TGD (see 645–6n).

Bibliography

MED fōngen (v.) , OED fang (v.1) , HTOED , HTOED , HTOED , EDD fang (v.), Dance fonge, de Vries fanga, Mag. fanga, Seebold fanh-a-