deaþ

Forms

dēaþ m (strong a-stem; genitive singular dēaþes, nominative plural dēaþas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *dauþu, from Proto-Germanic *dauþuz (“death”).^[1][2] The noun is found in all the old Germanic languages: Gothic 𐌳𐌰𐌿𐌸𐌿𐍃 (dauþus), Old Norse dauðr, Old Frisian dāth, Old Saxon dōth and Old High German tōd.^[2][3][4]

Kroonen explains it as a noun in *-tu-* made to the Proto-Germanic verb *daujaną (“to die”).^[2] Köbler connects it with the Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *dʰew- (“to vanish, die”) (Pokorny's *dʰeu- 2), and Wiktionary reconstructs the noun itself as *dʰówtus.^[5][1] In Old English it stands beside the adjective dēad (“dead”), which is made to the same verb.^[5][4]

In West Saxon the second element of the prehistoric diphthong was lowered, so that *dǣuþ became dēaþ.^[6] Bosworth and Toller's Supplement notes a rare genitive in ⟨-a⟩ as a trace of the old u-stem inflection, and Hogg and Fulk also count the word originally among the u-stems, though it does not keep their endings.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in the mid-ninth-century gloss of the Vespasian Psalter, where Psalm 7 has in him gearwað featu deaðes “he has prepared in it the vessels of death” over the Latin “in ipso parauit uasa mortis”.^[9][10] In the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20, 890×897) Christ is said to have chosen ðæt wite ðæs fraceðlecestan deaðes “the punishment of the most shameful death”, the death on the cross.^[11][10]

Semantic evolution

The word is the ordinary term for the death of a person, in prose and poetry alike.^[12][7] The poets also make Death a figure: the Phoenix calls it “wiga wælgifre”, a warrior greedy for slaughter.^[13] In the laws it is both natural death and death by slaying, and with verbs such as sellan and fordeman it names the death penalty.^[14] Etymonline adds the senses “cause of death” and, in the plural, “ghosts”.^[15]

The word lived on as Middle English deth, first in the Peterborough Chronicle (a1121), now English death.^[16][15]

Timeline

• s. ix med. – featu deaðes “vessels of death” in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[9][10]
• 890×897 – the death of Christ on the cross in the Pastoral Care.^[11][10]
• s. x² – Death as “wiga wælgifre” in the Phoenix of the Exeter Book.^[17][13]
• s. x/xi – dēað in the Beowulf manuscript, with the compounds gūðdēað and wældēað.^[18][19]
• a1121 – Middle English deð in the Peterborough Chronicle.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. death, the end of a person's life.^[12][5][19]
2. (poetic) Death as a person, a slayer.^[13]
3. (law) death as a penalty; also death by slaying.^[14]
4. a cause of death; in the plural, the spirits of the dead.^[15]

Word family

• dēaþbǣre
• dēaþbedd
• dēaþdæġ
• dēaþliċ
• dēaþsċūa
• fǣrdēaþ
• gūþdēaþ
• wældēaþ

Descendants

• Middle English deth (→ English death; Middle Scots dethe; Middle Scots deith)^[1]

Related words

• dēad

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 91
3. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 70
4. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 71
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. déaþ
6. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 5.42
7. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 147
8. ^ Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 2.73
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. 329
10. ^ 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
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 Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 197
13. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 761
14. ^ a b Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 47
15. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
16. ^ a b 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)
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. 223
18. ^ 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
19. ^ a b 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. dēað