saga

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a narrative telling the adventures of a hero or a family; originally (12th to 14th centuries) a story of the families that settled Iceland and their descendants but now any prose narrative that resembles such an account

Etymology

From Old Norse saga (“epic tale, story”), from Proto-Germanic *sagǭ (“saying, story”), from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“to say”). Cognate with Old English sagu (“story, tale, statement”), Old High German saga (“an assertion, narrative, sermon, pronouncement”), Icelandic saga (“story, tale, history”), German Sage (“saga, legend, myth”). More at say; Doublet of saw. Compare typologically Ancient Greek ἔπος (épos) (whence epos, epic) << Proto-Indo-European *wekʷ- (“to speak”).

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