v. (pp.)
(a) ‘wild, desolate’, (b) ‘precipitously overhanging, threatening’, (c) ‘twisted’
(Modern English skayved)Two valid alternative readings of the word at Gaw 2167 have been proposed (‘Þe skwez of þe scowtes skayned/skayued hym þoʒt’) depending on whether the minims in the middle of the word are read as <n> or <u> (and the interpretation of skwez), and both produce a derivation from ON of type A1 (guaranteed in both cases by two phonological tests). Most editors and commentators (inc. TG, Sisam, GDS (see 2167n), TGD, AW, Vant, PS and MED) follow Madden in reading <skayned>, see skayned (v.). Morris's reading of the MS as <skayued> (assumed by most early scholarship, inc. OED and retained in M(G)) suggests a v. skayued connected with the ON adj. represented by OIcel skeifr ‘askew, oblique’ (cp. further the derived adj. and adv. skeifligr, -liga and the n. skeifa ‘a horse-shoe’); cp. OE scāf in scāf-fōt ‘splay-footed’, and OS skēf, MDu scheef, Ger dial scheif, scheib, which suppose a PGmc *skaiba-. The sense of this supposed ME word has been the subject of further debate: (a) Morris suggests 'wild', based as Wright (1906: 219–20) notes, on a problematic comparison with PDE N dial scafe. (b) Wright (followed by Emerson 1922: 405) translates ‘precipitous’, comparing further Shetl skave ‘uneven, askew, out of shape, awry’ (EDD s.v. skave adj., which compares Icel skeifr) and Ndial (Lakel., Yks.) skeaf ‘a steep, broken bank’ (etc.) (EDD s.v. skeaf sb.). (c) Sundén (1920: 146–50) adds to the list of Scand comparanda NNo dial skeiva, a verbal derivation on ON skeifr exactly parallel to ME skayued, and proposes a ME v. skaiven with the sense ‘to make/be warped, fantastic to look at; to twist (oneself)’ (i.e. either trans or intrans).
PGmc Ancestor
*skaiba-
Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)
skeifr ‘askew, oblique’
(ONP skeifr (adj.))
Other Scandinavian Reflexes
Far skeivur, Icel skeifur, Norw skeiv, ODan skev, Dan skæv, OSw skēver, Sw skev
OE Cognate
cp. scāf-fōt (adj.) ‘splay-footed’
Phonological and morphological markers
ON /ei/ < PGmc */ai/
absence of palatalization of */sk/
Summary category
A1
This would be the only instance in ME of a v. skaiven; but perh. cp. EDD s.v. skave adj., ‘uneven, askew, out of shape, awry’ (Shetland).
Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus
Gaw 2167
The word at Gaw 2167 can be plausibly read in the MS as either <skayned> (Madden, followed by subsequent editors) or <skayued> (Morris); see further etymological discussion and skayned (v.).