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dæl

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dæl1 part, portion

Pronunciation

Forms

dǣl m (strong i-stem; genitive singular dǣles, nominative plural dǣlas)[1]

Etymology

The noun “part” is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *daili, from Proto-Germanic *dailiz (“part, share”).[1][2] The same noun is found in Gothic 𐌳𐌰𐌹𐌻𐍃 (dails, “part, portion, share”), Old Frisian dēl, Old Saxon dēl and Old High German teil.[3][4] Related forms are Old Norse deild and Old Norse deill.[3][5]

Outside Germanic it matches Proto-Slavic *dělъ (“part, division”), and Orel takes the two for one word, related to a root meaning “to divide” though the Germanic initial does not answer to it regularly.[3] Köbler follows Pokorny in setting it beside Proto-Indo-European *dāi- (“to divide, cut up”), with a query.[4] Wiktionary reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *dʰ(h₁)-oy-lo- (“part”) and calls a link with Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put, do”) highly uncertain.[1]

In prehistoric Old English the ending was lost, Proto-Germanic /ai/ became /ā/, and i-umlaut fronted it: *dailiz > *daili > *dāli > *dǣli > dǣl.[2] It is a heavy-stemmed masculine i-stem, declined in early West Saxon with the endings of the a-stems.[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest record is in the Épinal Glossary, of the late seventh century, where Latin partim “partly” is glossed sume daeli “in some part”.[8][9] Ringe and Taylor note that the ending -i of this form, also in the Corpus Glossary, may keep the old i-stem dative or be a new instrumental.[10] In prose the word first appears in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20, 890×897), where the book is divided into four parts: an is ðara dæla hu he on ðone folgoð becume “one of the parts is how he should come to office”.[11][9]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is a part as against the whole: in the Chronicle for 885 the army split in two, óþer dǣl eást, óþer dǣl tó Hrófesceastre “one part east, the other to Rochester”.[12] From there it came to mean a share that falls to someone (in Luke a son asks his father for his share of the property) and an amount of anything, “some” as against none: sumne dǣl metes “some food”.[13][12] In poetry a genitive with dǣl means a great deal: oferhygda dǣl “much arrogance” in Beowulf, wintra dǣl “many years” in The Wanderer.[14][12] The plural names the regions of the world, and the word forms the compass compounds such as norþdǣl and westdǣl.[14][9]

In the laws it gives fractions, þridda dǣl “a third”, teoða dǣl “a tenth”, and the phrase be dǣle “in part”.[15] Ælfric's Grammar uses it for a part of speech and for a word as a part of the sentence.[13] It lived on as Middle English del, English deal.[5]

Timeline

  • s. vii ex. – sume daeli glossing Latin partim in the Épinal Glossary.[8][9]
  • 890×897 – the four parts of the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).[11][9]
  • s. x in. or xi¹ – norðdæle and westdæle, the parts of Europe, in the Old English Bede (Tanner 10).[16][9]
  • s. x/xi – oferhygda dǣl “much arrogance” in the Beowulf manuscript.[17][14]

Meanings

Noun

  1. a part or portion of a whole.[13][12][4]
  2. a share, the portion that falls to someone.[13][14]
  3. an amount, some;[12][14] (poetic) with a genitive, a great deal, much.[12][14]
  4. (plural) the regions or quarters of the world.[14]
  5. (law) a fraction: þridda dǣl a third.[15]
  6. (grammar) a part of speech; a word as part of a sentence.[13]

Word family

  • dǣlan
  • sumdǣl
  • ēastdǣl
  • norþdǣl
  • sūþdǣl
  • westdǣl
  • middeldǣl

Descendants

  • Middle English del (→ English deal; Scots dele)[1]

dæl2 valley, dale

Pronunciation

Forms

dæl n (strong a-stem; genitive singular dæles, nominative plural dalu)[1] Plural dalu, dalo; genitive singular dæles.[13]

Etymology

The noun “valley” is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *dal, from Proto-Germanic *dalą (“valley”).[1] It is the common Germanic word for a valley: Gothic 𐌳𐌰𐌻 (dal, “ravine, pit, valley”), Old Norse dalr, Old Saxon dal, Old Frisian del and Old High German tal.[18][3]

Kroonen calls it a European word, Proto-Indo-European *dʰolh₂-o-, and compares the obsolete Russian дол (dol, “valley; ditch”) and Middle Welsh dol (“meadow, dale”); if Ancient Greek θαλάμη (thalámē, “den, lair”) belongs here, the root is Proto-Indo-European *dʰelh₂-.[18] Orel likewise equates it with Welsh dôl and Proto-Slavic *dolъ (“valley”).[3] Köbler sets it under Pokorny's Proto-Indo-European *dʰel- (“vault, curve, hollow”).[19] Wiktionary calls the etymology uncertain: unless the Celtic and Slavic words were borrowed from Germanic, it thinks a loan from a substrate language most likely.[1] Etymonline also allows a substrate word.[5]

Proto-Germanic /a/ appears as ⟨æ⟩ here, as in fæst and græs.[20]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in the poems of the second half of the tenth century.[21][22] The Phoenix in the Exeter Book says of the bird's land ne dene ne dalu ne dunscrafu “neither dens nor dales nor mountain caves”.[21][9] In Genesis A in the Junius manuscript God throws the rebel angel on þa deopan dala “into the deep dales” of hell.[22][9]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller give the senses dale, den and gulf, with Latin vallis and barathrum.[13] In the poems the deep dalu are often the abyss of hell, and in Christ devils fall on ðæt deope dæl “into the deep gulf”.[13] The glossaries render baratrum with it, once with færsēaþ as an alternative, and explain the Latin as an opening in the earth.[12] In charter bounds it names valleys on the boundary.[12][23]

It lived on as Middle English dale, English dale;[5] Etymonline puts its survival down to Norse influence in the north of England.[5]

Timeline

  • s. x² – ne dene ne dalu in The Phoenix (Exeter Book).[21][9]
  • s. x² – on þa deopan dala in Genesis A (Junius manuscript).[22][9]
  • 904 (in a copy of s. xiii²) – anlang þara ealdena dala “along the old dales” in the bounds of charter S 374.[24][9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. a valley, dale.[13][19][23]
  2. a deep hollow, gulf, abyss;[13][12] (poetic) the pit of hell.[13][12]

Word family

  • ofdæl

Descendants

  • Middle English dale (→ Scots dale; Scots daal; English dale)[1]
  • dell

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. 287
  3. ^ a b c d e Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 67
  4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. dǣl
  5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 2.56
  7. ^ Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 2.59
  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 e f g h i j k Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
  10. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 383
  11. ^ 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
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 145
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 194
  14. ^ a b c d e f g 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. dǣl
  15. ^ a b Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 46
  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. 531
  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. 344
  18. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 87
  19. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. dæl
  20. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 147
  21. ^ a b c 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
  22. ^ a b c 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
  23. ^ a b LangScape: The Language of Landscape: Reading the Anglo-Saxon Countryside, King's College London, langscape.org.uk
  24. ^ 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 374