Etymology

Formed on the root of warke (n.), the same arguments for input from the ON v. represented by OIcel virkja 'feel pain' (cp. OE wærcan 'be in pain'; cp. e.g. ME warche and (with OE metathesis) Pe past wraʒte) on forms of this wk. v. without palatalization of final /k/ apply. Note too, however (as MED does and TPD perhaps imply with a cross-reference in their glossary), the possibility of influence from, or confusion with, ME werken (MED s.v. werken v.1) 'act, etc.'. Kroonen (s.v. *warki) observes that, although they derive from originally separate IE roots, in Gmc a homonymy developed between *warki- and *werka-, and notes the various senses of OE weorc include both 'work' and 'pain'.

PGmc Ancestor

*warkjan-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

virkja 'feel pain'
(ONP virkja (1) (vb.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Far virkja, Norw dial virkja

OE Cognate

wærcan 'be in pain'

Phonological and morphological markers

[absence of palatalization of */k/] (possibly diagnostic)

Summary category

CC2c

Attestation

Spellings indicating /k/ are first cited by MED from a1325(c1250) Gen.& Ex. (Corp-C 444), and N texts dominate the subsequent citations, including a 'northern' usage in Chaucer's Reeve's Tale.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

WA 531

Bibliography

MED werken (v.2) , OED wark, warch (v.) , HTOED , EDD (sb. and v.), de Vries virkja (2), Mag. virkja (2), AEW *wircan