n.
WA nykid
'(a) little, a small amount'
(Modern English neked)The formal correspondence of this rare word with its proposed ON etymon, the indef. pron. represented by OIcel nekkvat 'something, anything' (< *ni wait (ek) hwat 'I don't know what'; cp. OE nāthwæt 'something or other', OHG neizhwaz), leaves some room for doubt, although most authorities who offer an etymology agree (more or less tentatively) it is the source. Of the attested OIcel variants (which include nakkvat, nøkkvat, nøkkut, nǫkkut), those in /e/ or (by w-mutation) /ø/ could give ME /e/, and so the nearest OIcel form to a plausible VAN etymon of neked is perhaps nøkutt, with its reduced second syllable. ME final <d> is accounted for by TGD (138) as a spelling for /t/ given the devoicing of final /d/ in the dial of the Gaw MS; but one could also posit association with the ending of the formally very similar OE nacod ‘naked’, Gaw <naked>.
PGmc Ancestor
Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)
nøkkurr (nekkvat) 'something, anything'
(ONP nøkkurr (indef. pron.))
Other Scandinavian Reflexes
Far nakað, Icel nakkvat, nekkvat, nøkkvat, nøkkut, Dan noget, Sw nokot
OE Cognate
cp. nāthwæt (pron.) 'something or other'
Phonological and morphological markers
Summary category
D1c
Only recorded by MED and OED in WA and Gaw.
Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus
Gaw 1062, 1805; WA 3935