dom

Forms

dōm m (strong a-stem; genitive singular dōmes, nominative plural dōmas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *dōm, from Proto-Germanic *dōmaz (“verdict, judgement”).^[1][2] The Proto-Germanic noun survives in Gothic 𐌳𐍉𐌼𐍃 (dōms, “insight, esteem”), Old Norse dómr (“judgement, sentence”), Old Frisian dōm, Old Saxon dōm and Old High German tuom.^[2][3][4]

Kroonen explains it as a noun with an m-suffix made to Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put, place”), the root of Old English dōn; the o-grade form is *dʰóh₁-mo-.^[2] The first meaning was thus “what is set down”, as in Latin statūtum and Ancient Greek θέμις (thémis).^[1] Orel compares Ancient Greek θωμός (thōmós, “heap”).^[3] The noun gave rise to the verb dēman (“to judge”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in the Vespasian Psalter gloss of the mid-ninth century, as in Psalm 9: Gearwade in dome seld his, “he prepared his seat for judgement”, over the Latin “Parauit in iudicio sedem suam”.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller begin with judgement and judicial sentence, then decree, ordinance and law: the early laws open Ðis syndon ða dómas ðe Æðelbirht cyning asette, “these are the laws that King Æthelberht set”.^[7] From there it came to mean ruling and command, free choice and discretion (Latin arbitrium), and authority.^[7][8] In the poetry it also means glory and renown, the sense Klaeber gives for many of the Beowulf examples.^[9] Clark Hall adds “ordeal”, “court” and “interpretation” of a dream.^[10] As the second part of compounds it became the abstract suffix -dōm.^[10]

It lived on as Middle English doom “judgement, law”, now English doom.^[11][1]

Timeline

• s. ix med. – in dome “for judgement” in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[5][6]
• 890×897 – of hira agnum dome “of their own will”, for Latin ex arbitrio, in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[12][6][8]
• s. x² – on dryhtlicestum dome lifdon “lived in the lordliest glory” in The Seafarer, Exeter Book.^[13][1]
• s. x/xi – “glory” and “judgement” in the Beowulf manuscript.^[14][9]
• c. 1175 – Middle English on dome “for judgement” in the Bodley Homilies.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. judgement, judicial sentence.^[7][15]
2. a decree, ordinance, law.^[7][10]
3. ruling, command, authority, power.^[7][16]
4. free will, choice, discretion.^[8][9]
5. (poetic) glory, renown.^[9][10]
6. a court, assembly; an ordeal.^[10][15]

Word family

• dōmbōc
• dōmere
• dōmern
• dōmes dæġ
• dōmfæst
• dōmġeorn
• dōmlēas
• cynedōm
• frēodōm
• wīsdōm

Descendants

• Middle English doom (→ English doom; Middle Scots dome; Middle Scots dume)^[1]

Related words

• dēman
• -dōm

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 98
3. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 73
4. ^ de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 79
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
7. ^ a b c d e Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 207
8. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 154
9. ^ a b c d 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. dōm
10. ^ a b c d e Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 86
11. ^ 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)
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. 499
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. 223
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. 344
15. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. dōm
16. ^ Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 65