Etymology

A number of interpretations of rykande at Gaw 2337 ( ‘Þenn he melez muryly wyth a much steuen, / And wyth a rykande rurde he to þe renk sayde’) have been proposed, based on two different identifications of the MS reading <rykande> ((1) and (2)) and two different proposed emendations ((3) and (4)): (1) An identification with the rare ME vb. riken ‘to reign’ (clearly attested otherwise from just two (Yks.) texts) probably derived < ON, cp. OIcel ríkja ‘to reign, rule’ (usually regarded as a derivation on the adj. PGmc *rīkja-) offers a very good fit to the form and makes reasonable sense; thus Emerson (1922: 407) glosses 'commanding'. But this theory has found little subsequent favour (with the exception of Vant, see his 2337n). (2) Alternatively, Wright (1906: 219) tried to account for rykande by comparing it with PDE dial rick ‘to rattle, jingle, make a noise, chatter; utter the noise made by a guinea-fowl, polecat, or ferret, or by a pheasant when roosting; grumble, scold; raffle’ (etc.) (see EDD). EDD associates it plausibly enough with Norw dial riksa, rikfa ‘to creak, make a noise’; in that case it is either derived from or cognate with ON hrik- as in Icel hrikta, NNo rikta ‘to creak’, Icel hrikkja ‘to creak’ (perh. cp. further Swiss Ger ritschen, < *rickezen), and the by-form with long /i:/ as in OIcel hríka, Far ríkja, Sw dial rēk, perh. to be derived from a PIE *kreig-, *krig- (cp. Gr krigē ‘owl’, krízdō ‘I creak, shriek’). This has subsequently been rejected (Emerson 1922: 407, GDS) on the grounds that none of the meanings attested for the PDE word or for its putative Scandinavian analogues seems self-evidently to fit the context in Gaw very well. (3) Morris suggested emmending MS <rykande> to *<raykande>, i.e. the pres. ptcp. of ME raiken ‘to go, proceed’ (etc.) < ON; cp. OIcel reika ‘to wander, take a walk, swagger’ as if < a PGmc *raikō(j)an-, and further OIcel reik ‘parting of the hair’, of uncertain ulterior etymology (see rayke). This assumes an unlikely extension of the sense 'rushing' to 'loud, strong' (describing a man's voice). There is nonetheless another instance of a ME scribe miscopying *<raykande> as <rykande>, at c1425(c1400) Ld.Troy (LdMisc 595) 10797 (where *<raykande> is guaranteed by rhyme on <laykande>) (cited by MED at sense (c) ‘to go at will, move unimpeded’). (4) TG (as well as Napier, see Sisam 223 and the apparatus to TGD 2337) offer a more straightforward emendation to *<rynkande>, and therefore identify the word with ME ringen, < OE hringan ‘to ring, sound, clash; announce by bells’. This is the reading adopted by all subsequent editions (as well as MED and implicitly OED3); it makes very good sense in context and is easy to explain as a copying error (requiring only the omission of the suspension mark over <y>).  The form *<rynk-> with voiceless /k/ < /ɡ/ may be compared with two instances of the related noun in <nk> elsewhere in Gaw, and GDS 2337n moreover notices Cl 916 <þynkeʒ> with devoicing word-medially. 

PGmc Ancestor

(1) *rīkja-; (2) *kreig or *krig-; (3) *raikō(j)an-; (4) *xrenʒjan-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

(1) ríkja ‘to reign, rule’; (3) reika ‘to wander, take a walk, swagger’; (4) hringja 'to ring bells'
(ONP (1) ríkja (vb.); (3) reika (vb.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

(1) Far ríkja, Icel ríkja, Norw rikja, MSw rikja; (3) Far reika, Icel reika, Norw reika

OE Cognate

(4) hringan ‘to ring, sound, clash; announce by bells’

Phonological and morphological markers

[absence of palatalization of */k/] (possibly diagnostic) (may not be applicable)

[ON /ei/ < PGmc */ai/] (may not be applicable)

Summary category

DD2

Attestation

(1) ME riken ‘to reign’ is cited by MED only from c1350 In þat time als (Bod 425) and 3x a1400 NVPsalter (Vsp D.7), both Yks. texts. (2) The only evidence for an English rick is the mod dial usage cited by EDD from Yks, Lan., Chs. (3) ME raiken ‘to go, proceed’ (etc.) is N/E and alliterative (plus an instance at (a1470) Malory Wks.(Win-C) 226/9), from as early as the T MS of AW. In later dial usage N/EM as far south as Nhp., War., Hnt. (see EDD s.v. rake v.3, sb.3; Thorson 39). (4) ME hringen ‘to ring’ is common and widespread throughout the period.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Gaw 2337

Bibliography

MED ringen (v.2) , OED3 ring (v.1) , Dance rykande; (1) MED rīken (v.) , OED3 rike (v.) , de Vries ríki, Mag. ríkja (2), Heid. *rīkja-, Orel *rīkjanan; (2) EDD rick (v.3, sb.4), de Vries *hríka, Mag. hrikta; hrikkja, Torp NnEO Riksa; Rikta; (3) MED raiken (v.) , OED3 raik (v.) , de Vries reika (1), Mag. reika (1), Heid. wraikwa-, Bj. 48; (4) Orel *xrenʒjanan, AEW hringan (2)