deor

deor¹ wild animal

Etymology tree of deor¹

inherited borrowed derived

Proto-West Germanic *deuʀ

Dutch dier

German Tier

Old English dēor

Pronunciation

• /de͜oːr/^[1]

Forms

dēor n (strong a-stem; genitive singular dēores)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the wild animal is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *deuʀ, from Proto-Germanic *deuzą (“wild animal”).^[1][2] The noun is found in all the old Germanic languages: Gothic 𐌳𐌹𐌿𐍃 (dius), Old Norse dýr, Old Frisian diār, Old Saxon dior, Old Dutch dier and Old High German tior.^[2][3][4]

Kroonen reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *dʰeus-ó- and connects the root with words for breath and breathlessness, Lithuanian dùsas (“short breath”) and Proto-Slavic *duxъ (“breath, spirit”); he takes its first meaning to have been “to lose one's senses”, whence “to be wild”.^[2][5][3] Holthausen and Köbler give the same connection.^[4][6]

Proto-Germanic /eu/ appears as ⟨ēo⟩; the final ⟨-r⟩ of the nominative was carried over from the inflected forms, where the Germanic /z/ had become /r/ in the middle of the word.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The noun is recorded in the Old English Orosius, in a manuscript of the first half or second quarter of the tenth century: He hæfde þagyt ... tamra deora unbebohtra syx hund. Þa deor hi hatað hranas “he had besides six hundred tame animals that he had not bought; those animals they call reindeer”.^[9][10]

Semantic evolution

In Old English dēor is any animal, usually a wild one as opposed to tame livestock; it renders Latin “fera” and “bestia”.^[11][6] It is used of the panther and the lynx, of the wolf, the camel and the reindeer, so the narrower sense “deer” is only one of its uses.^[11][12][13] The compound wilddēor “wild animal” is common beside it.^[11]

It lived on as Middle English der, now English deer.^[1]

Timeline

• s. x¹ or x²/⁴ – Þa deor hi hatað hranas “those animals they call reindeer” in the Old English Orosius.^[9][10]
• s. x med. – þæt dior we hatað lox “that animal we call lynx” in the Old English Boethius.^[14][10]
• s. x² – the panther called a curious beast in the Exeter Book.^[15][11]
• c. 1000 – ðā wildan dēor ðe on wudum eardiað “the wild animals that live in the woods” in Ælfric's Hexameron.^[1]

Meanings

Noun

1. an animal, a wild beast.^[11][6]
2. a deer; a reindeer.^[13][16]

Word family

• wilddēor
• dēorcynn
• dēoren
• hēahdēor

Descendants

• Middle English der (→ English deer; Middle Scots dere; Middle Scots deir)^[1]

deor² brave

Pronunciation

• /de͜oːr/^[1]

Forms

dēor^[1]

Etymology

The word for brave is inherited from Proto-Germanic *deuzaz (“wild, fierce, bold”).^[1][6] Kroonen links it closely with the noun for a wild animal (dēor¹), the root having meant “to be wild”.^[2] Breeze has proposed instead that it was taken from Welsh;^[17][18] Durkin lists it among the words for which Celtic origins have been suggested, together with words for strength and armour.^[17][18]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Exeter Book and the Vercelli Book, both of the second half of the tenth century, The Seafarer says that no man is so bold in his deeds, Nis mon in his dædum to ðæs deor, and Andreas calls the saint deor and domgeorn “bold and eager for glory”.^[15][19][11]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller give two senses: “brave, bold”, said of people and their deeds, and “heavy, severe, dire”, said of a shower of rain, a journey or blows.^[11] Klaeber glosses it “brave, bold, fierce” in Beowulf, where Grendel is a dīor dǣdfruma “a fierce doer of deeds”.^[17][20] It also forms compounds such as heaþodēor and hildedēor “brave in battle”.^[17] Toller refers to the New English Dictionary for its later history.^[12]

Timeline

• s. x² – deorum dædum “with bold deeds” in The Seafarer in the Exeter Book.^[15][11]
• s. x² – deor and domgeorn “bold and eager for glory” in Andreas in the Vercelli Book.^[19][11]
• s. x² – a heavy shower in Daniel in the Junius manuscript.^[21][11]
• s. x/xi – dīor dǣdfruma “fierce doer of deeds” in the Beowulf manuscript.^[22][17]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (poetic) brave, bold, fierce.^[11][17][23]
2. (poetic) heavy, severe, dire, violent.^[11][13]

Word family

• dēorlīċ
• dēormōd
• heaþodēor
• hildedēor