Etymology
Numerous theories have been put forward to explain this etymological crux (and some commentators make no attempt at derivation at all, e.g. GDS, TGD), often adducing ON input, and falling into three main groups: (1) The possibility that ME
big is a formation on the root of the ON v. represented by OIcel
byggva (
byggja) ‘to settle, inhabit’ (see further
bigge) (thus Koch 1873: 141–2 and included as a possibility in
OED3) is superficially attractive and there are several clear derivations on this borrowed root in ME and in the onomastic record. If not a zero-derivation on the root of this v., it could plausibly be accounted for as a deverbal adj. in
-lic and then adv. in
-līce, and one could then make the case that a simplex adj. was subsequently created as a back-formation on the adv. (with ME
big- in
*biglī adv. reinterpreted as a plain adj. stem). However, the simplex adj.
big is recorded long before the adv.
bigly and there is a considerable semantic gap between the basic senses of the verb ME
bigge (i.e. ‘to dwell’ or ‘to build’) and the earliest attested meanings of the adj. (‘strong, sturdy, mighty; stout-hearted, courageous’,
OED). (2) ME
big is related to the semantically more proximate Norw dial n.
bugge ‘important man’ (and the rarer adj.
bugga ‘rich, wealthy, powerful' (thus (tentatively)
MED). The ulterior etymology of the Norw word is itself very opaque. It has sometimes itself been derived on the root of ON
byggva (thus Austin 1939 who reconstructs an ON
*bygge ‘one settled or established’ hence ‘one who is mighty or important, rich’), but more often connected to a PGmc root
*bug- (Mag., Pokorny I.100) or
*bugg- (Bj., Torp
NnEO), however it is far from clear that modern Norw <u> in
bugge reflects a VAN /y/ and the Scandinavian forms may instead evidence a non-umlauted variant in /u/, as against the
i-mutated type which must lie behind ME
big (on the possibility of (and problems) with a native derivation on the same root, see further Dance). (3) Some of the etymological accounts of Norw
bugge connect it in addition to formally-similar (and similarly etymologically opaque) words including (one or more of) Eng dial
bug ‘proud, conceited’, PDE
bug (in various senses inc. ‘creepy-crawly’ and ‘hobgoblin’),
bug-bear, Ger dial
bögge ‘fruit kernel’ and sometimes OHG
buhil ‘hill’, and sometimes further to Du and LG words for ‘pig’ such as eModDu
bigge and an array of similar forms (see further Liberman 2003: 12–13, 2009: 184–9). On the possibly related late OE by-names of the type
Bicga, see further Dance.
PGmc Ancestor
(1)*big-; (2) *bug- or *bugg-
Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)
byggva (byggja) 'to settle, inhabit'
(ONP byggja (2), byggva (vb.))
Other Scandinavian Reflexes
(1) Far byggja, Icel byggja, Norw byggja, Dan bygge, Sw bygga; (2) Norw dial bugge, bugga
OE Cognate
(1) bȳan (v.) 'to inhabit, live, dwell'
Phonological and morphological markers
Summary category
D1c