þeaw
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Old English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Unknown origin, only in West Germanic, as it were from Proto-Germanic *þawwaz. Cognate with Old Frisian thāw, Old Saxon thau (“custom”). A possible Old High German reflex is *dou (“discipline, coercion, tuition”).[1]
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]þēaw m
- habit, custom
- 10th century, The Wanderer:
- …þæt biþ in eorle · indryhten þēaw,
þæt hē his ferðlocan · fæste binde,
healde his hordcōfan; · hyċġe swā hē wille.- …that a noble habit is in a brave man,
that he would tightly bind his spirit,
keep his treasure-chamber; think as he want.
- …that a noble habit is in a brave man,
- (in the plural) customs, virtue, conduct, character
- c. 992, Ælfric, "The Second Sunday in the Lord's Advent"
- Mine gebroðra, settað þises dæges gemynd ætforan eowrum eagum, and swa hwæt swa bið nu héfigtyme geðuht, eal hit bið on his wiðmetennysse geliðegod. Gerihtlæcað eower líf, and awendað eowre ðēawas, witniað mid wope eowre yfelan dæda, wiðstandað deofles costnungum; bugað fram yfele, and doð gód, and ge beoð swa micclum orsorgran on to-cyme þæs ecan Déman, swa micclum swa ge nu his strecnysse mid ege forhrádiað.
- My brothers, set the remembrance of this day before your eyes, and whatsoever now appears to be trouble, it shall all be mitigated on comparison with it. Correct your lives, and change your conduct, punish your evil deeds with weeping, withstand the temptations of the devil; eschew evil and do good, and ye will be by so much the more secure at the advent of the eternal Judge, as ye now with terror anticipate his severity.
- c. 992, Ælfric, "The Nativity of St. Paul the Apostle"
- He awende his naman mid ðēawum; and wæs ða soðfæst bydel Godes gelaðunge, seðe ær mid reðre ehtnysse hi geswencte.
- He changed his name with his character; and he was then a true proclaimer of God's church, who had before afflicted it with fierce persecution.
- c. 992, Ælfric, "The Second Sunday in the Lord's Advent"
Declension
[edit]Declension of þēaw (strong a-stem)
Derived terms
[edit]Descendants
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ attested as ka-dau, ka-thau; in EWAhd tentatively identified as a reflex of an s-less variant of Proto-Indo-European *(s)tāu-, *(s)te- (“to stand, place”). Köbler, Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, (6. Auflage) 2014 s.v. "dou", citing Lloyd et al. (eds.), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen (EWAhd) vol. 2 (1998), p. 741.
Categories:
- Old English terms with unknown etymologies
- Old English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Old English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Old English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Old English lemmas
- Old English nouns
- Old English masculine nouns
- Old English terms with quotations
- Old English masculine a-stem nouns