Etymology

The ultimate source of this word is certainly OFr coroune (< Lat corōna), and most authorities are content to explain it as a direct loan from Fr. The loss of pretonic vowel is difficult to account for (see Diensberg 1997: 462), but paralleled exactly by MLG krūne and OIcel krúna ‘crown’, and on this basis influence from the ON form has been suggested (TGD, Nagano 1966: 55). The contracted cr- form is much more likely to have arisen in English or (Anglo-)French (perhaps under the influence of the word as it had come to be pronounced in English), however. It first appears in Anglo-French texts in the 11c., while the Norse word is only attested from c. 1250.

PGmc Ancestor

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

krúna ‘crown’
(ONP krúna (1) (sb.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Far krúna, Icel krúna, Norw krune, kruna, Dan krone, Sw krona

OE Cognate

Phonological and morphological markers

Summary category

FCCC2a

Attestation

Cr- forms are common and widespread in ME, from Orrm and Lamb.Hom. onwards.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Gaw 364, 419, 616 etc.; Pe 427, 1100; Cl 1275; Erk 55, 222; WA 121, 231, 817 etc.

Bibliography

MED coroune (n.) , OED crown (n.) , HTOED , HTOED , Dance croun, de Vries krúna, Mag. krúna, AND corone (1), FEW cŏrōna