dead

Forms

dēad^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *daud (“dead”), from Proto-Germanic *daudaz.^[1][2] The adjective is common Germanic: Gothic 𐌳𐌰𐌿𐌸𐍃 (dauþs), Old Norse dauðr, Old Frisian dād, Old Saxon dōd and Old High German tōt.^[2][3][4] Orel explains the ⟨þ⟩ of the Gothic form as taken over from the noun for death.^[3]

Kroonen takes it to be the old past participle of Proto-Germanic *dawjaną (“to die”), from a pre-form Proto-Indo-European *dʰowHtós;^[2][1] Orel also derives it from that verb.^[3] Holthausen puts it with Old Saxon dōian, Old High German touwen and Old Norse deyja, all “to die”, and Köbler with the root Proto-Indo-European *dʰew- (“to dwindle, die”) (Pokorny 260).^[4][5] Proto-Germanic /au/ appears as ⟨ēa⟩ in Old English, beside the ⟨ā⟩ of Old Frisian and the ⟨ō⟩ of Old Saxon and Old High German.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Old English gloss of the Vespasian Psalter, added in the middle of the ninth century: Psalm 87 asks Ah deadum doest wundur, glossing “Numquid mortuis facies mirabilia”, “Will you work wonders for the dead?”.^[7][8] The Pastoral Care (890×897) has Christ se ðe demende is cucum & deadum, “who is judge of the living and the dead”.^[9][8]

Semantic evolution

Besides people, animals and plants that have died, the word is used in the medical texts of dead flesh without feeling and of congealed blood, and it also glosses Latin “cruor” “gore”.^[10] Figuratively it describes a person dead to all good, and in The Seafarer the life of this world is ðis deade līf “this dead life” beside the joys of the Lord.^[10][11] Sweet adds the senses "sluggish" of a stream and "dull" of life.^[12] Used as a noun, se dēada is the dead man, a usage common in the laws.^[13]

It lived on as Middle English ded, now English dead.^[14][15]

Timeline

• s. ix med. – deadum “for the dead” in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[7][8]
• 890×897 – cucum & deadum “the living and the dead” in the Pastoral Care.^[9][8]
• s. x med. – dead flesh and dead blood in Bald's Leechbook.^[16][10]
• s. x² – ðis deade līf in The Seafarer in the Exeter Book.^[17][11]
• a1131 – Middle English ded in the Peterborough Chronicle.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. dead, no longer alive; as a noun, a dead person.^[11][5][13]
2. (medicine) of flesh, without sensation; of blood, congealed.^[10][12]
3. of a stream, sluggish.^[12]
4. torpid, dull; dead to, without feeling for.^[12][10]

Word family

• dēadlīċ
• healfdēad

Descendants

• Middle English ded (→ English dead; Scots dede; Scots deid)^[1]

Related words

• dēaþ

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. 90
3. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 69
4. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 70
5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. déad
6. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 172
7. ^ 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
8. ^ 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
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. 499
10. ^ a b c d e Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 146
11. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 196
12. ^ a b c d Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 62
13. ^ a b Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 47
14. ^ 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)
15. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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. 412
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