cierr

Forms

ċierr m (strong i-stem; genitive singular ċierres, nominative plural ċierras)^[1]

Etymology

It is a noun from Old English ċierran (“to turn”).^[1][2][3] Bosworth and Toller compare the nouns Dutch keer, German Kehr and Old High German kēra.^[4]

The verb is *kaʀʀjan in Wiktionary, a variant of a Proto-Germanic verb of turning, Proto-Germanic *kaizijaną.^[1] Holthausen derives it from a form with either -rr- or -rz- and compares Welsh gyrru (“to drive”).^[2] Köbler sets up Proto-Germanic *karjaną and lists the cognate verbs Old Saxon kērian and Old High German kēren.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The noun is first recorded in the Pastoral Care (890×897), where a man busy on a journey mid oðrum cierrum “with other affairs” forgets where he meant to go: “ðam menn ðe bið abisgod on færelde mid oðrum cierrum, oððæt he nat hwider he ær wolde”, “the man who is busied on a journey with other affairs, until he does not know where he meant to go”.^[6][7][8] The Parker Chronicle, in the annal for 897, has the sense “time, occasion”: “Þa æt sumum cirre þæs ilcan geares comon þær sex scipu to Wiht”, “then on one occasion in the same year six ships came to the Isle of Wight”.^[9][7]

Semantic evolution

From “a turn” the noun came to mean a turn in time, an occasion, and a piece of business or an affair.^[4][2] It is most often found in the dative after æt: æt sumum cierre “at one time”, æt ānum cierre “at one and the same time”, and in the medical texts æt ðam fēorþan cierre “the fourth time”.^[4][10] The laws count offences by it, æt þām forman cierre “the first time”, æt þām ōðrum cierre “the second time”, until later texts replace it with sīþ.^[11] Wiktionary marks the word as early West Saxon.^[1]

It survived as Laȝamon's Middle English cherre and is now English chare.^[4][10][2]

Timeline

• 890×897 – mid oðrum cierrum “with other affairs” in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[6][7]
• s. ix/x – æt sumum cirre “on one occasion” in the annal for 897 of the Parker Chronicle.^[9][7]
• s. x med. – in a chapter heading of Bald's Leechbook.^[12][7]
• s. x² – cyrre in Christ and Satan in the Junius manuscript.^[13][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. a turn, a change.^[4][3]
2. a time, an occasion, æt sumum cierre “once”.^[4][11]
3. business, an affair.^[8][2]

Word family

• edċierr
• frumċyrr
• ġēanċierr
• oferċierr
• wiþerċierr
• ymbċierr
• sǣċierr

Related words

• ċierran

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 48
3. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. cierr
4. ^ 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. 190
5. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. cierran
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d e Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
8. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 154
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. 83
10. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 126
11. ^ a b Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 34
12. ^ 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
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. 513