Seggr

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A protective fireclay container in which ceramic ware is placed inside a kiln ; a coarse grasslike marsh plant of the genus Carex
2. A heat-resistant clay box used to shield pottery during firing ; a rushlike wetland plant with triangular stems and inconspicuous flowers
3. A thick clay case that holds pottery safe from flames while it bakes ; any of the grass-like plants that grow in wet ground and marshes

Etymology: Seggr is an Old Norse-derived word that English picked up in the North of England and Scotland, where it means a sedge, a grass-like marsh plant. Its root is the Old Norse "seggr," which in turn goes back to a Germanic word for a sword-like plant, so the name describes the plant's blade-shaped leaves. Old English had its own word for the same plant, "secg," which is the source of the modern "sedge." The two forms are doublets: one came into English through Old English and spread through the South, the other came directly from Norse settlers in the North, and both survived side by side in different regions. Many Northern dialects kept "segg" as a name for the plant long after standard English had settled on "sedge."