Etymology

The only close comparanda for this v. are Sw, Norw dial lugga 'to pull a person's hair', and so a reconstructed ON *lugga is general accepted as etymon. Falk-Torp (and OED) relates it to the Gmc root *lug- 'to hang loose, slack'.

PGmc Ancestor

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

 
(ONP )

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Norw dial lugga, lugge, Sw lugga

OE Cognate

Phonological and morphological markers

Summary category

B1

Attestation

MED has citations from a variety of texts from c1390 Treat.Mass (Vrn) onwards. OED notes the common use of the sense 'to pull the hair of (a person)' in 'South Yorkshire and adjacent counties' (cp. EDD sense (4)).

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Cl 443; WA 3942

Bibliography

MED luggen (v.) , OED lug (v.) , HTOED , EDD lug (v.1, sb.1 and adj. 1),  Bj. 217, Falk-Torp Lugg, Torp Lugg (1), Hellquist lugg (2)