hellog〜英語史ブログ / 2019-09-23

■ #3801. gan にみる古英語語彙の結合的性格 [lexicology][word_formation][oe][lexical_stratification]

　現代英語の語彙に3層構造が認められることは，本ブログで「#2977. 連載第6回「なぜ英語語彙に3層構造があるのか？ --- ルネサンス期のラテン語かぶれとインク壺語論争」」 ([2017-06-21-1]) を始め，そこに張ったリンク先の記事や，lexical_stratification の各記事で注目してきた．端的にいえば，歴史を通じて様々な言語と接触してきたなかで，語形的に関連しない類義語が借用され蓄積されてきたことに起因する．おかげで，ask -- question -- interrogate のように，語形としては結びつかない「分離的な」 (dissociated) 語彙の性格をもつことになった．
　一方，語彙の借用が僅かしかなかった古英語は，1つの基本的な語彙素をもとにして関連語を累々と作り出していく語形成が得意であり，結果として生じた語彙は「結合的な」 (associative) 性格を示した (Kastovsky 294) ．この古英語語彙の結合的性格を例証するために，Kastovsky (294--96) に拠って，「行く」を意味する単純な語彙素 gan を取り上げ，そのおびただしい関連語を挙げてみよう．

(1) gan/gangan 'go, come, move, proceed, depart; happen'
(2) derivatives:
   (a) gang 'going, journey; track, footprint; passage, way; privy; steps, platform'; compounds: ciricgang 'churchgoing', earsgang 'excrement', faldgang 'going into the sheep-fold', feþegang 'foot journey', forlig-gang 'adultery', hingang 'a going hence, death', hlafgang 'a going to eat bread', huselgang 'partaking in the sacrament', mynstergang 'the entering on a monastic life', oxangang 'hide, eighth of a plough-land', sulhgang 'plough-gang = as much land as can properly be tilled by one plough in one day'; gangern, gangpytt, gangsetl, gangstol, gangtun, all 'privy'
   (b) genge n., sb. 'troops, company'
   (c) -genge f., sb. in nightgenge 'hyena, i.e. an animal that prowls at night'
   (d) -genga m., sb. in angenga 'a solitary, lone goer', æftergenga 'one who follows', hindergenga 'one that goes backwards, a crab', huselgenga 'one who goes to the Lord's supper', mangenga 'one practising evil', nihtgenga 'one who goes by night, goblin', rapgenga 'rope-dancer', sægenga 'sea-goer, mariner; ship'
   (e) genge adj. 'prevailing, going, effectual, agreeable'
   (f) -gengel sb. in æftergengel 'successor' (perhaps from æftergengan, wk. vb. 'to go')
(3) compounds with verbal first constituent, i.e. V + N (some of them might, however, also be treated as N + N, i.e. with gang as in (2a): gangdæg 'Rogation day, one of the three processional days before Ascension day', gangewifre 'spider, i.e. a weaver that goes', ganggeteld 'portable tent', ganghere 'army of foot-soldiers', gangwucu 'the week of Holy Thursday, Rogation week'
(4) gengan wk. vb. 'to go' < *gang-j-an; æftergengness 'succession, posterity'
(5) prefixations of gan/gangan;
   (a) agan 'go, go by, pass, pass into possession, occur, befall, come forth'
   (b) began/begangan 'go over, go to, visit; cultivate; surround; honour, worship' with derivatives begánga/bígang 'practice, exercise, worship, cultivation'; begánga/bígenga 'inhabitant, cultivator' and numerous compounds of both; begenge n. 'practice, worship', bigengere 'worker, worshipper'; bigengestre 'hand maiden, attendant, worshipper'; begangness 'calendae, celebration'
   (c) foregan 'go before, precede' with derivatives foregenga 'forerunner, predecessor', foregengel 'predecessor'
   (d) forgan 'pass over, abstain from'
   (e) forþgan 'to go forth' with forþgang 'progress, purging, privy'
   (f) ingan 'go in' with ingang 'entrance(-fee), ingression', ingenga 'visitor, intruder'
   (g) niþergan 'to descend' with niþergang 'descent'
   (h) ofgan 'to demand, extort; obtain; begin, start' with ofgangende 'derivative'
   (i) ofergan 'pass over, go across, overcome, overreach' with ofergenga 'traveller'
   (j) ongan 'to approach, enter into' with ongang 'entrance, assault'
   (k) oþgan 'go away, escape'
   (l) togan 'go to, go into; happen; separate, depart' with togang 'approach, attack'
   (m) þurhgan 'go through'
   (n) undergan 'undermine, undergo'
   (o) upgan 'go up; raise' with upgang 'rising, sunrise, ascent', upgange 'landing'
   (p) utgan 'go out' with utgang 'exit, departure; privy; excrement; anus'; ?utgenge 'exit'
   (q) wiþgan 'go against, oppose; pass away, disappear'
   (r) ymbgan 'go round, surround' with ymbgang 'circumference, circuit, going about'.

　これらの語彙素には，すべて語幹 gan （多少の変形が加えられているとしても）が含まれている．古英語語彙の結合的な性格の一端を垣間見ることができただろう．
　古英語の語形成の類型論的な位置づけについては，同じく Kastovsky に拠った「#3358. 印欧祖語は語根ベース，ゲルマン祖語は語幹ベース，古英語以降は語ベース (1)」 ([2018-07-07-1])，「#3359. 印欧祖語は語根ベース，ゲルマン祖語は語幹ベース，古英語以降は語ベース (2)」 ([2018-07-08-1])，「#3360. 印欧祖語は語根ベース，ゲルマン祖語は語幹ベース，古英語以降は語ベース (3)」 ([2018-07-09-1]) を参照．

　・ Kastovsky, Dieter. "Semantics and Vocabulary." The Cambridge History of the English Language. Vol. 1. Ed. Richard M. Hogg. Cambridge: CUP, 1992. 290--408.

[ 固定リンク | 印刷用ページ ]