æfter

Forms

æfter^[1] Mercian and Kentish efter, in the Vespasian Psalter gloss and the Kentish charters.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *after (“behind, after”).^[1][4] The word is found in Old Norse eptir, Old Frisian efter, Old Saxon aftar and Old High German aftar, and the Gothic adverb is 𐌰𐍆𐍄𐌰𐍂𐍉 (aftarō, “from behind”).^[4][5][6]

Kroonen explains it as an adverb formed to *aba (“off, away”) with the contrastive suffix Proto-Indo-European *-teros.^[4] Orel takes it as a changed comparative of the same adverb and compares Ancient Greek ἀπωτέρω (apōtérō, “farther”).^[5] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Indo-European *h₂epoteros (“further behind”), the comparative of *h₂epó (“off, behind”).^[1] Köbler gives the same root with the Pokorny page.^[6]

In the Mercian of the Vespasian Psalter the word appears as ⟨efter⟩, with the raising of ⟨æ⟩ to ⟨e⟩ that set that dialect apart from West Saxon.^[2] A charter datable to 831 already writes ⟨yfter⟩, which Ringe and Taylor take to show that ⟨y⟩, ⟨e⟩ and ⟨æ⟩ had already merged in sound.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest dated record is the Kentish will of the reeve Abba, of 833×839, which survives as a contemporary single sheet.^[8] Its endorsement asks, in God's name, the men ðe efter hire to londe foen “who succeed to the land after her”, to keep the arrangements made by his widow Heregyth.^[8][9]

Semantic evolution

As a preposition it governed the dative and marked place, sequence and time: following behind someone, one thing after another, after three months.^[10][11] It also marked extension along or through a space, as when the army went æfter wudum “through the woods” in the Chronicle.^[11] With verbs of pursuit, inquiry and longing it named what is sought, and in Beowulf it is used for grief after a dead lord and for asking about someone's lineage.^[12][11] A further sense was “according to”: the Vespasian Psalter glosses Latin secundum with efter.^[13][9][12] As an adverb it meant “afterwards, then”.^[14]

It continued as Middle English after, now English after.^[1][15]

Timeline

• 833×839 – efter in the endorsement of Abba's will, a contemporary single sheet.^[8][9]
• s. ix med. – efter mengu arleasnissa heara “according to the multitude of their impieties” in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[13][9]
• s. ix/x – in the Parker manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.^[16][9]
• s. x³/⁴ – in the Old English gloss of the Lindisfarne Gospels.^[17][9]

Meanings

Preposition

1. after, later than (in time).^[10][6]
2. behind, following (in place or order).^[11]
3. along, through, among.^[10][12]
4. after, about, in pursuit of (with verbs of seeking, asking and longing).^[12][11]
5. according to, in accordance with.^[12][18]

Adverb

1. afterwards, then, later.^[14][6]

Word family

• æfterra
• æfteryldo
• þǣræfter

Descendants

• Middle English after (→ English after; Scots efter; Scots eftir)^[1]

Related words

• eft

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 218
3. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 243
4. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 3
5. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 2
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. æfter
7. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 336
8. ^ a b c The Electronic Sawyer: Online Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Charters, revised ed. by S. E. Kelly and R. Rushforth, King's College London / University of Cambridge, esawyer.lib.cam.ac.uk, p. S 1482
9. ^ a b c d e f Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
10. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 10
11. ^ a b c d e Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 12
12. ^ a b c d e Fulk, R. D.; Bjork, Robert E.; Niles, John D., eds. (2008), Klaeber's Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg, 4th ed., Toronto: University of Toronto Press (glossary), p. s.v. æfter
13. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 329
14. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 11
15. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
16. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 83
17. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 291
18. ^ Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 26