garsecg

Uncertain. Almost always analyzed as a compound of gār +‎ seċġ, but there is significant disagreement about how to interpret these components. gār is usually glossed as "spear," but the sense "tempest" has been suggested,[1] and Holthausen dubiously connected it to Old English gānian (“to gape”), Sanskrit vihayas (“atmosphere”).[2] seċġ may be glossed several ways:

• "sword" appears least likely.
• "sedge" has been suggested (e.g. by Grimm[3]), but the derivation is opaque.
• "man; warrior" is perhaps most popular; in this case the sense is "the ocean personified as a warrior," but attempts find links to spear-wielding water deities (Bosworth-Toller suggests Neptune[4]) have not yielded definitive results.
• Some Latin-Old English glossaries have possible variants of secg glossing "sea" (e.g. the Épinal-Erfurt glossary has segg and seeg).

William Redbond suggested a possible loan from Welsh mor-gaseg (“ocean”), related to modern caseg.[5] Dahlman suggested analysis as gārs (“world's”) +‎ eċġ (“edge”), but this cannot be correct as ecg is a feminine jō-stem. See.[6]

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɑːrˌsejj/, [ˈɡɑːrˌsed͡ʒ]

gārseċġ m

1. ocean, sea

• ēa (“river”)
• mere (“lake”)
• sǣ (“sea”)
• strēam (“stream”)