camb

Forms

camb m (strong a-stem; genitive singular cambes, nominative plural cambas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *kamb, from Proto-Germanic *kambaz (“comb”).^[1][2] The Proto-Germanic noun is continued in Old Norse kambr (“comb, crest”), Old Saxon kamb and Old High German kamb.^[2][3][4]

Kroonen reconstructs it as Proto-Indo-European *ǵombʰ-o-;^[2][3][4] Orel identifies it with words for tooth and peg, among them Ancient Greek γόμφος (gómphos, “peg, nail”), Lithuanian žambas (“sharp edge”) and Proto-Slavic *zǫbъ (“tooth”), and Holthausen compares the same words.^[2][3][4] Köbler gives the root as Pokorny's *g̑embʰ- "to bite".^[5] The comb was thus named as a toothed object.^[6]

The weak verb cemban (“to comb”) is made from it.^[4][5] Bosworth and Toller list a feminine noun of the same form, meaning honeycomb, separately, and Holthausen asks whether it belongs here or to cimbing.^[7][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in a plant name: the Épinal Glossary, the oldest English glossary, glosses Latin camellea with uulfes camb “wolf's comb”.^[8][9] The Dictionary of Old English Plant Names identifies wulfes camb as fuller's teasel, Dipsacus fullonum, with its comb-like heads.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller give two senses: a comb for cleaning hair, wool or flax, and the crest of a cock or of a helmet, glossing Latin pecten and crista.^[7][5] The Supplement adds a comb for the hair in the medical texts, þone camb þe heo ana hyre heafod mid cemde “the comb with which she alone combed her head”, and the crests of birds.^[11] The Wonders of the East say that phoenixes have crests on their heads like peacocks.^[1] In the Lambeth Psalter it is a honeycomb.^[7][12] The estate memorandum Gerefa names the comb, and Liebermann records the compounds horscamb and wullcamb.^[13]

The word lived on as Middle English comb, now English comb, with the senses of hair comb, cock's crest and honeycomb.^[6]

Timeline

• s. vii ex. – uulfes camb “teasel” in the Épinal Glossary.^[8][9]
• s. x med. – wulfes camb in a drink in Bald's Leechbook.^[14][9]
• c. 1000 – cambas “crests” of the phoenix in the Wonders of the East.^[1]
• s. xi¹ – wulfes camb in the Old English Herbarium.^[15][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. a comb for the hair, or for wool and flax.^[7][11][5]
2. the crest of a cock or other bird; the crest of a helmet.^[7][16]
3. a honeycomb (as a feminine noun).^[7][12]

Word family

• cemban
• horscamb
• huniġcamb
• wullcamb
• wulfes camb

Descendants

• Middle English comb (→ English comb; Scots camb; Scots came)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 279
3. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 209
4. ^ a b c d e Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 43
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. camb
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 144
8. ^ 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. 610
9. ^ a b c d Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
10. ^ Bierbaumer, Peter; Sauer, Hans; Klug, Helmut W.; Krischke, Ulrike, eds. (2007–), Dictionary of Old English Plant Names, Graz, oldenglish-plantnames.org, p. s.v. wulfes-camb
11. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 115
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. 64
13. ^ Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 30
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. 412
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. 347
16. ^ Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 54