and

Forms

and^[1] ond, common in the poetry and in early West Saxon manuscripts such as the Pastoral Care and the Orosius, and end, the oldest form, in Cædmon's Hymn and the early charters and glossaries.^[2] Usually written with the abbreviation 7 (⁊).^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *andi (“and, furthermore”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *h₂énti (“facing, in front of”).^[1][5] The conjunction has close relatives in Old Frisian and, Old Saxon endi and Old High German inti, and Old Norse enn (“and”) is of the same origin.^[5][6][7]

Orel explains it as a full grade of the conjunction and compares Sanskrit अन्ति (ánti, “before, near”) and Ancient Greek ἀντί (antí, “over against”).^[5] Holthausen compares Sanskrit अथ (átha, “then, thereupon”).^[6] Köbler traces it to an adjective meaning “lying opposite, in front”, from the noun Proto-Indo-European *h₂ent- (“front, forehead”).^[8][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest dated record is Cædmon's Hymn in the Moore Bede, written in or after 737, with the old form end: metudæs maecti end his modgidanc “the Measurer's might and his purpose”.^[9][2] A charter of King Wiglaf of Mercia of 836, held to be a contemporary original, uses the same form.^[10][2]

Semantic evolution

Apart from joining words and clauses, and could open a clause that has nothing before it, as in a question, and could join a subordinate clause to its main clause where Modern English would leave it out.^[11] Holthausen and Köbler give the sense “but” as well, Clark Hall “or” in the laws, and Liebermann finds it meaning “or” and “respectively” there.^{[6][8][12][4]} The phrases gelice and “as if” and efen and “just as” also occur.^[13][4] Bosworth and Toller also record and as a preposition, “with” and “against”; in the Supplement, Toller explains the second as a form of on.^[14][11]

The word is nearly always written with the abbreviation 7 in the manuscripts: in Beowulf, where it occurs about 310 times, it is spelled out as ond only twice.^[3][15] It lived on as Middle English and, now English and.^[1]

Timeline

• c. or after 737 – end in Cædmon's Hymn in the Moore Bede.^[9][2]
• 836 – end in Wiglaf's charter for Hanbury, a contemporary single sheet.^[10][2]
• s. ix¹ – end suelce glossing “atqueve” and hider ond hider “hither and thither” in the Corpus Glossary.^[16][2]
• 890×897 – ond in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[17][2]
• s. x² – Þonne ic mec onhebbe ond hi onhnigaþ to me “when I raise myself up and they bow to me” in Riddle 30 in the Exeter Book.^[1][18]

Meanings

Conjunction

1. and.^[14][8][13]
2. but.^[6][8]
3. (law) or; respectively.^[12][4]
4. in gelice and: as if.^[13]

Descendants

• Middle English and (→ English and; Scots an)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
3. ^ a b Campbell, A. (1959), Old English Grammar, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. § 24
4. ^ a b c d Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 13
5. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 18
6. ^ a b c d Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 5
7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. and
9. ^ 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. 60
10. ^ a b 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 190
11. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 38
12. ^ a b Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 20
13. ^ a b c Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 33
14. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 39
15. ^ 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. ond
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. 76
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. 499
18. ^ 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. 223