Etymology
The possibility of ON derivation here depends on whether or not an emended reading of the word at
Erk 43, in which 'mony a mery mason was made þer to wyrke' (39) and 'mony grubber in grete' (41) 'makkyd
e and mynyd
e' the older building at St Paul's in preparation for the 'New Werke' (38), is accepted: (1) Savage (also
MED and
OED3) followed GollErk in emending MS <makkyd> to
mukkyde, and thus identifying it with the ME v.
mukken, either formed on
mokke (n.) or derived directly from the ON wk. v. formed on it, represented by OIcel
muka 'to shovel'. In this instance there may be better reason to derive it directly from the ON v., as the sense in
Erk aligns more closely with OIcel
muka than the more usual sense of the v. in ME 'to spread manure; clean'. (2) Peterson, however, argues that the MS reading also gives a satisfactory sense in context if it refers to the masons making the new stonework (Peterson 43n) rather than the grubbers who
mynyde. He thus identifies it with ME
maken,
continuing OE
macian 'to make, do act' (similarly Morse (1975) glosses 'made' and Burrow and Turville-Petre (1992) gloss 'make; build'). The main potential objection to this identification, as Peterson anticipates, is that similar usages of
maken are usually transitive. He compares the intransitive use of the v. in connection with poetry (
OED3's sense 4 (b)), but this usage appears specific and constrained. Thus while (2) has the advantage of explaining the MS text without emendation, the possibility of (1) should be maintained as it arguably gives a better reading (whether the residue of the stone is being cleared out, or shovelled).
PGmc Ancestor
(1) *mukōn-; (2) makōjan-
Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)
(1) moka 'to shovel'
(ONP moka (vb.))
Other Scandinavian Reflexes
(1) Icel moka, Norw moka, Dan muge, Sw måka, mocka, Sw dial muka
OE Cognate
Phonological and morphological markers
Summary category
D2