drifan

Forms

drīfan (strong class 1; third-person singular present drīfþ, past singular drāf, past plural drifon)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *drīban, from Proto-Germanic *drībaną (“to drive”).^[1][2] The strong verb is found in all the old Germanic languages: Gothic 𐌳𐍂𐌴𐌹𐌱𐌰𐌽 (dreiban), Old Norse drífa, Old Frisian drīva, Old Saxon drīban and Old High German trīban.^[2][3][4][5]

Kroonen and Köbler set the root as Proto-Indo-European *dʰreybʰ- (“to drive, push”).^[2][6] Outside Germanic Kroonen compares only Irish drip (“bustle”) and Scottish Gaelic drip (“hurry, confusion”); he finds the link with Lithuanian dribti (“to fall”), favoured by the Old Norse use of the verb for driving snow, doubtful, and Seebold too found the bridge between the meanings narrow.^[2] Orel accepts the Lithuanian comparison.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is first recorded in the Pastoral Care of 890×897 (Hatton 20), where the ship of the heart bið drifen hider & ðider “is driven hither and thither” by the waves of thought.^[7][8]

Semantic evolution

The verb's core is to force living beings to move: to drive cattle or sheep to pasture, captives before a triumph, enemies out of a land; the Britons write in Bede Us drifað þa ellreordan to sæ “the barbarians drive us to the sea”.^[9][10][8] From driving came chasing and hunting, and in the laws following a track of stolen cattle (spor drīfan).^[10][11] It was also used of physical force on things: wind driving a cloud, a stake driven into the ground.^[10] In later texts it means to carry on or practise: to pursue a lawsuit, to do wrong, and in the Chronicle for 1099 Ranulf ealle his gemót dráf, conducted all his courts.^[10][12][13] Used without an object it means to rush with violence.^[13][1]

The word lived on as Middle English dryven, now English drive.^[1]

Timeline

• 890×897 – the ship of the heart drifen hider & ðider in the Pastoral Care.^[7][8]
• s. x in. or xi¹ – Us drifað þa ellreordan to sæ in the Old English Bede.^[14][8]
• s. x² – Abraham driving the two from his dwelling, in the Junius manuscript.^[15][9]
• s. x/xi – twice in the Beowulf manuscript.^[16][17]
• 1099 – gemót dráf “conducted courts” in the Chronicle.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. to drive, force to move, push.^[9][6]
2. to drive away, expel.^[18][13]
3. to chase, hunt, pursue;^[10][11] (law) to follow a track.^[10][11]
4. to carry on, practise, conduct.^[10][13]
5. (intransitive) to rush with violence.^[13][1]

Word family

• ādrīfan
• bedrīfan
• fordrīfan
• oferdrīfan
• tōdrīfan
• þurhdrīfan
• ūtādrīfan

Descendants

• Middle English dryven (→ English drive; Middle Scots dryfe; Middle Scots dryve)^[1]

Related words

• drǣfan
• drāf
• ġedrif

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. 103
3. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 76
4. ^ Seebold, Elmar (1970), Vergleichendes und etymologisches Wörterbuch der germanischen starken Verben, The Hague / Paris: Mouton, p. 162
5. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 77
6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. drīfan
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. 499
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 c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 212
10. ^ a b c d e f g Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 157
11. ^ a b c Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 55
12. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 762
13. ^ a b c d e Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 66
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. 531
15. ^ 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
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. 344
17. ^ 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. drīfan
18. ^ Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 88