n.
Gaw pl. menskes; Gaw, Pe, Cl mensk
'courtesy, honour, fame, grace'
(Modern English mensk)Perhaps derived directly from the n-stem ON n. represented by OIcel mennska ‘humanity, generosity’ (formed on the adj. mennskr, see mensk); no analogous n. is known in OE, but cp. the ō-stem OE menniscu.
PGmc Ancestor
*manniska-
Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)
mennska ‘humanity, generosity’
(ONP mennska (sb.))
Other Scandinavian Reflexes
Far (ó)menska, Icel mennska, ODan men(i)ske, OSw mænksa
OE Cognate
cp. menniscu 'humanity, human state'
Phonological and morphological markers
[absence of palatalization of */k/] (may not be applicable)
Summary category
C2
(CC1)
Not found in SE, but attested quite frequently in the SWM as well as in N and alliterative texts.
Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus
Gaw 834, 914, 2052, etc.; Pe 162, 783; Cl 121, 522, 646 etc.; Erk 337; WA 1237, 5226
On the sense of mensk- in Gaw see PS 2410n. Anderson reads the instance at 646 as a substantive use of the adj. (see further 646n). Skeat WA cites two further instances at WA 1746 and 4492, which other editors read as instances of mensk (adj.) and menske (v.) respectively.