cuþ

Forms

cūþ (comparative cūþra, superlative cūþost)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *kunþaz (“known”), the past participle of *kunnaną (“to know”), the verb that became cunnan.^[1][2] Ringe and Taylor count it among the old weak participles of Proto-Germanic that were used as adjectives throughout the family; its cognates are Gothic 𐌺𐌿𐌽𐌸𐍃 (kunþs), Old Norse kunnr beside kuðr, Old Frisian kūth, Old Saxon kūth and Old High German kund.^[2][3][4]

Orel derives it from Proto-Indo-European *ĝn̥ə-tó-, the participle that also gave Ancient Greek γνωτός (gnōtós, “known”), Latin nōtus (“known”) and Old Irish gnáth (“customary”).^[3] Wiktionary writes the pre-form Proto-Indo-European *ǵn̥h₃tós, with an accent shift it calls unexplained.^[1]

In Old English, as in Old Frisian and Old Saxon, the nasal was lost before the fricative ⟨þ⟩ with lengthening of the vowel, while Old High German kept it.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Forms that can belong only to the adjective first appear in the Junius Psalter gloss, of the first half of the tenth century (perhaps the 920s): Psalm 38 has cuðne me do dryhten ende minne “make my end known to me, Lord” over the Latin “notum fac mihi”.^[6][7] The bare form cūþ is shared with the verb cunnan in the corpus, and Bosworth and Toller quote the adjective from Bede, the Orosius and the poems.^[8][9][7]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller give three groups of senses: known, plain and evident (cūþ is wīde “it is widely known”); well known, sure and famous; and familiar, intimate and friendly, of people one knows.^[8] In glosses it renders Latin notus, cognitus, certus and manifestus.^[4] In the laws of Hlothhere and Eadric Liebermann reads his cuðan ceape as an open purchase, Toller as property known to be his.^[10][9] Used as a noun it means an acquaintance.^[1] Its negative is uncūþ “unknown”.^[8][3]

It lived on as Middle English couth “known, well known”; as a participle it died out in the sixteenth century, and the English word couth “refined” is a back-formation from uncouth of 1896.^[11]

Timeline

• s. x¹ – cuðne me do “make known to me” in the Junius Psalter gloss.^[6][7]
• s. x in. or xi¹ – cuðne sweg “a known sound” in the Old English Bede (Tanner 10).^[12][7]
• s. x² – folcum cuðost “best known to the nations”, of Babylon, in Daniel in Junius 11.^[13][8]
• s. x² – nænigne cuðne “no acquaintance” in a Vercelli homily.^[14][7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. known, plain, evident.^[8][4]
2. well known, certain; famous.^[8]
3. familiar, intimate, friendly; related.^[8][4]
4. (as a noun) an acquaintance.^[1]

Word family

• uncūþ
• wīdcūþ
• folccūþ
• hīwcūþ
• cūþe
• cūþian
• cūþlǣċan
• cūþnes

Descendants

• Middle English couth (→ English couth)^[11]

Related words

• cunnan
• cȳþan

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 77
3. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 224
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. cūþ
5. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 140
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. 515
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 c d e f g Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 175
9. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 136
10. ^ Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 43
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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. 531
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
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. 704