dwellan

Forms

dwellan (third-person singular present dweleþ, past singular dwealde, past plural dwealdon)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *dwalljan, from Proto-Germanic *dwaljaną (“to delay, hinder”).^[1][2] The Proto-Germanic verb is continued in Old Norse dvelja (“to delay, tarry”), Old Saxon bidwellian (“to delay, hinder”) and Old High German twellen, which Old High German also has as twaljen.^[2][3][4]

Kroonen takes it as a weak verb that probably merged two formations: a causative to the strong verb Proto-Germanic *dwelaną (“to err”) (seen in the participle ġedwolen (“wrong”)) and a factitive to the adjective seen in Gothic 𐌳𐍅𐌰𐌻𐍃 (dwals, “foolish”).^[2] Orel too derives it from the strong verb.^[3] Kroonen sets up the root as Proto-Indo-European *dʰuelH-, which outside Germanic he finds only in Baltic and Celtic;^[2] Köbler gives it as Pokorny's Proto-Indo-European *dʰu̯el- (“to make turbid, whirl”), an extension of a root for dust and vapour.^[5]

The West Saxon preterite ⟨dwealde⟩ and participle ⟨dweald⟩ show breaking of Proto-Germanic /a/ before /l/, absent in Anglian; the verb is conjugated like tellan.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is first recorded in the Pastoral Care, in the Hatton manuscript of 890×897: Forðæm sua sua unwærlicu & giemeleaslicu spræc menn dweleð “for just as careless and heedless speech leads a man astray”, where the Latin has “incauta locutio in errorem pertrahit”.^[7][8][9]

Semantic evolution

Its core sense in Old English is to lead astray or deceive: in the Boethius the speaker complains Me þincð þæt ðu me dwelle & dydre, swa mon cild deð “it seems to me that you are leading me astray and fooling me, as one does a child”.^[10][8] From this came the sense of hindering or holding back, which the poems use: in Beowulf nothing hinders the fortunate man, neither sickness nor age.^[10][11] Used intransitively it meant to go astray or wander, glossing Latin “errare” and “obambulare”.^[9][5] Toller struck out the sense “remain, dwell” that Bosworth had given, assigning that example to dwelian.^[9]

The Middle English verb dwellen meant to delay, linger and spend time, as in the Ormulum of about 1175.^[12] Durkin judges that the later sense “abide, stay” of English dwell is surely due to Scandinavian influence, since the core sense of the Old English verb was “lead astray”; he compares Old Icelandic dvelja “delay”.^[13]

Timeline

• 890×897 – unwærlicu & giemeleaslicu spræc menn dweleð “careless speech leads a man astray” in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[7][8]
• s. x med. – Me þincð þæt ðu me dwelle “it seems to me that you mislead me” in the Old English Boethius (Cotton Otho A. vi).^[14][8]
• s. x² – in Riddle 11 of the Exeter Book, of something that hinders the foolish.^[15][10]
• s. x/xi – dweleð “hinders” in the Beowulf manuscript.^[16][11]
• c. 1175 – Middle English dwellenn “delay” in the Ormulum.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. to lead astray, mislead, deceive.^[10][17][5]
2. to hinder, prevent, delay.^[10][11]
3. (intransitive) to go astray, wander, err.^[9][17]

Word family

• ġedwellan
• ādwellan
• ġedweald

Descendants

• Middle English dwellen (→ English dwell; Scots dwall)^[1]

Related words

• dwelian
• ġedwolen

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. 111
3. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 81
4. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 81
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. dwėllan
6. ^ Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 6.100
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 d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 161
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. 220
11. ^ a b c 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. dwellan
12. ^ 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)
13. ^ Durkin, Philip (2014), Borrowed Words: A History of Loanwords in English, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 209
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. 296
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. 223
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. ^ a b Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 91