Each among men
*[XGEN.PL] gahwaz
by C Ryan Moniz
original research· spring 2013 - harvest 2021
updated & published· spring 2022
Mjǫðr Óðins· Reconstructing Germanic verse formulae
This halfline-filling formula, like the fomrula ‘children of men,’ is one of the two most common used as a generic way to indicate “everyone” or “anyone”; translating more closely to ‘each of [the] men/people,’ it takes the form *[XGEN.PL] gahwaz¹, where X is any term meaning ‘people, men, folk, warriors’ that alliterates with the other alliterating words in the line. Within this general formula, there are at least 3 specific exemplary versions of this formula attested in both West and North Germanic that I reconstruct for Proto-Germanic: *aldijǫ̂ gahwaz, *gumanǫ̂ gahwaz, and *mannǫ̂ gahwaz. There are also 3 examples which show up in 2 of the West Germanic languages which I reconstruct for Proto-West-Germanic: PWG *erlō gahwilīk/gahwaʀ, *manakunnjas gahwilīk/gahwaʀ (which is notable for its genitive singular form), and *þegnō gahwilīk/gahwaʀ. The final section of this article lists other examples of this formula in the source languages for which I have not found a cognate X value outside of that language.
1· Most variants of this formula replace the basic distributive pronoun *gahwaz with a derivative, most commonly a reflex of *gahwarjaz in North Germanic (Old Norse hverr) and a reflex of *gahwilīkaz (PWG *gahwilīk, Old English gehwylc, Old Saxon gehwilik)
*aldijǫ̂ gahwaz
Old English
• Psalm 77 10a
ylda gehwylc
Old Saxon
• Genesis B 480a
eldio ênhwilik
Old Norse
• Fáfnismál 10
alda hverr
*gumanǫ̂ gahwaz
Old English
• Béowulf 2516a, 2859a; Crist 820b
gumena gehwylc
Old Saxon
• Hêliand 1418a, 1963a, 2065b, 2490a
gumono gehwilik
Old Norse
• Hávamál 15, 18
gumna hverr
*mannǫ̂ gahwaz
Old English
• Béowulf 155a, 2527a, 3057a; The Seafarer 90a, 11a; Crist 431a, 589b; Old English Rune Poem 2a, 9a, 61b; Wið ymbe 10a
manna gehwylc/(ge)hwá
Old Saxon
• Hêliand 1113a, 1712b, 1925a, 2616a, 3216b, 3874a, 4249a, 4377a, 4595b
manno gehwilik/gehwê
Old Norse
• Hávamál 12
manna hverr
PWG *erlō gahwilīk/gahwaʀ
Old English
• Béowulf 2891a; Old English Rune Poem 84b, 90b
eorla gehwylc/gehwá
Old Saxon
• Hêliand 1486a, 1536a, 1699a, 1752a, 1825b, 1885a, 2051a, 4587a
erlo gehwilik/gehwê
PWG *manakunnjas gahwilīk/gahwaʀ
Old English
• Crist 1026b
moncynnes gehwá
Old Saxon
• Hêliand 1504b, 4050b
mankunnies gehwilik
PWG *þegnō gahwilīk/gahwaʀ
• Old English Rune Poem 7b; Béowulf 1673a
ðegna gehwylc
• Hêliand 1188b
thegno gehwê
Miscellaneous language-specific examples
Old English
- ánra gehwylc [Béowulf 2516a, 2859a]
- æþelinga ⁊ eorla gehwylc [Old English Rune Poem 84]
- beorna gehwylc [Old English Rune Poem 43b; The Battle of Maldon 257a]
- cynna gehwylc [Béowulf 98a]
- duguða gehwylc [Crist 601b; The Panther 57a]
- fíra gehwylc [Béowulf 2250b; The Whale 39b; Andreas 980a; Old English Rune Poem 1b]
- folca gehwylc [Crist 1218b]
- hæle gehwæþre [Old English Rune Poem 28a]
- hyssa gehwylc [The Battle of Maldon 128a]
- rinca gehwylc [Old English Rune Poem 13b]
- sáwla gehwylc [Crist 1067a]
- secga gehwylc [Béowulf 996a]
- þéoda gehwylc [Crist 847a, 1023b]
- þéodna gehwylc [Wídsíþ 11a]
- wǽgdéora gehwylc [Crist 987a]
- wihta gehwylc [Crist 981b]
- wræcna gehwám [Old English Rune Poem 20]
Old Saxon
- liudeo gehwilik [Hêliand 1616b, 2618a]
Old Norse
- fróðra hverr [Hávamál 63]
- fyrða hverr [Fáfnismál 10]
- hverr er ýta [Hervararkviða 18]
Mjǫðr Óðins· Reconstructing Germanic verse formulae