bereafian

Forms

berēafian (weak class 2; third-person singular present berēafaþ, past singular berēafode, past plural berēafodon)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *biraubōną (“to bereave, rob”), made with *bi- on *raubōną (“to rob”);^[1] in Old English terms it is be- and rēafian “to rob”.^[1][2] The same compound is found in Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐍂𐌰𐌿𐌱𐍉𐌽 (biraubōn), Old Frisian birāvia, Old Saxon birōvon and Old High German biroubōn.^[2][1] The Old High German verb is recorded in glosses from the late eighth century, and the Old Saxon one in the Heliand.^[3][4]

Köbler derives the simple verb from Proto-Indo-European *reup- (“to tear, break”).^[5] Kroonen puts the noun Proto-Germanic *rauba- (“loot”), the source of rēaf “spoil, booty”, with the strong verb Proto-Germanic *reufan- (“to tear”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is in the Pastoral Care, in the manuscript of 890×897, of those who refuse office: “oft him gebyreð ðæt hie weorðað bereafod ðara giefa ðe him God for monigra monna ðingum geaf” (“it often befalls them that they are deprived of the gifts that God gave them for the sake of many people”).^[7][8]

Semantic evolution

The verb takes the person robbed in the accusative and the thing taken in the genitive, as in the Pastoral Care, and in Beowulf the thing in the dative or instrumental.^[1][9] It renders Latin “eripere”, “spoliare”, “privare” and “despoliare”, and covers both depriving someone of a possession or a faculty and plundering a place: the Old English Bede has a church eallum hire æhtum bereafod, stripped of all its goods.^[10][2][8] It is common in prose and in the poems.^[8]

The verb lived on as Middle English bireven, recorded from the Peterborough Chronicle of 1124, which took the genitive of the thing or a phrase with of; it is now English bereave.^[11][12]

Timeline

• 890×897 – bereafod ðara giefa “deprived of the gifts” in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[7][8]
• s. x med. – Heó hit ne mæg his gewittes bereáfian in the Old English Boethius.^[13][10]
• s. x in. or xi¹ – a church eallum hire æhtum bereafod in the Old English Bede.^[14][8]
• s. x ex. – in Ælfric's Catholic Homilies I.^[15][8]
• s. x/xi – the past participle berēafod in Beowulf.^[16][9]

Meanings

Verb

1. to deprive (someone) of something.^[10][9][1]
2. to despoil, rob, plunder.^[10][2][17]
3. to seize, take away.^[10]

Descendants

• Middle English bireven (→ English bereave; Scots bereve; Scots bereif)^[1]

Related words

• rēafian
• rēaf

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. beréafian
3. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. biroubōn
4. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. birôvon
5. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
6. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 406
7. ^ 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
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b c 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. be-rēafian
10. ^ a b c d e Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 88
11. ^ 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)
12. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
13. ^ 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. 296
14. ^ 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. 531
15. ^ 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. 407
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. 344
17. ^ Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 44