þerscan

Forms

þersċan (strong class 3; third-person singular present þirsċþ, past singular þærsċ, past plural þursċon)^[1] þresċan and late þrexan.^[1][2] Northumbrian ðerscende in the Durham Ritual gloss and geðorscen in the Lindisfarne gloss.^[3][4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *þreskaną (“to thresh, to tread”).^[1][6] Its cognates are Gothic 𐌸𐍂𐌹𐍃𐌺𐌰𐌽 (þriskan, “to thresh”), Old High German dreskan, Old Swedish þryskia and Old Norse þreskja.^[6][7][1]

Orel relates it to Tocharian A trāsk- (“to chew”), Ancient Greek τιτρώσκω (titrṓskō, “to wound”) and Lithuanian treškėti (“to crackle”).^[6] Köbler and Wiktionary refer it to the root Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to rub, turn”).^[8][1] Holthausen compares a Lithuanian verb meaning “to break in two”, with a question mark.^[7]

The ⟨er⟩ of ⟨þerscan⟩ comes from r-metathesis, which moved /r/ before a short vowel followed by /s/; the verb shows no breaking.^[9] The unmetathesised form ⟨þrescan⟩ is the one English kept.^[1] The /sk/ was palatalised before a front vowel (⟨þersċe⟩ “I thresh”) but not before a back one, as in the infinitive.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is in the Pastoral Care (890×897), in God's command to Ezekiel to besiege Jerusalem: send ðærto gefylcio, & ðerscað ðone weall mid rammum “send troops against it and batter the wall with rams”.^[11][5]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller order the senses as striking or scourging, threshing grain, and pounding.^[12] The Northumbrian glosses use it for Latin verberare and caedere: lyft ðerscende “beating the air” in the Durham Ritual and geðorscen “beaten” in the Lindisfarne Luke.^[12][5] The Old English Martyrology has a martyr beaten to death with poles, mid stengum ðyrscan, and a man who threshed corn and winnowed it.^[12][13] In Gregory's Dialogues the riders beat their horses with their shafts.^[14][5] The threshing floor is a flor on to þerscenne.^[12]

The verb became Middle English threshen, used of threshing grain and of beating people; it survives as English thresh and the dialect variant thrash, which took over most of the figurative senses.^[15][16]

Timeline

• 890×897 – ðerscað ðone weall mid rammum “batter the wall with rams” in the Pastoral Care.^[11][5]
• s. x³/⁴ – geðorscen glossing caedentes in the Lindisfarne Gospels gloss.^[4][5]
• s. x² – lyft ðerscende “beating the air” in the Durham Ritual gloss.^[3][5]
• s. xi¹ – the riders beat their horses with their shafts in Gregory's Dialogues (Hatton 76).^[17][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. to strike, beat, scourge.^[12][8]
2. to thresh grain.^[12][18]
3. to pound, batter.^[12]

Word family

• beþersċan
• ġeþersċan
• tōþersċan

Descendants

• Middle English threshen (→ English thresh; English thrash; Scots thresch; Scots thrash)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 730
3. ^ 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. 204
4. ^ 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. 291
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
6. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 426
7. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 364
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. þerscan
9. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 7.94
10. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 7.17
11. ^ 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. 499
12. ^ a b c d e f g Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 1056
13. ^ Rauer, Christine, ed. (2013), The Old English Martyrology: Edition, Translation and Commentary, Cambridge: D. S. Brewer (glossary), p. s.v. þerscan
14. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 729
15. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
16. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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. 503
18. ^ Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 204