ealu

Forms

ealu n (consonant stem, irregular; genitive singular ealoþ, nominative plural ealoþ)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *alu, from Proto-Germanic *alu (“beer, ale”).^[1] Kroonen, Orel and Köbler give the Proto-Germanic stem as *aluþ, which the Old English genitive ⟨ealoþ⟩ continues.^[2][3][4] Its cognates are Old Norse ǫl and the first part of Old Saxon alofat (“ale vat”).^[2][3][5] The Germanic word was borrowed into Lithuanian alùs and Finnish olut.^[2]

There is no generally accepted etymology.^[2] The proposals are a link with Latin alūmen (“alum”), from a sense “bitter drink”, which Holthausen and Köbler follow; a link with Hittite alwanza- “magic”; and one with Sanskrit अरुष (aruṣá, “reddish”).^[2][5][4] Wiktionary reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *h₂elut-, a root of disputed meaning.^[1]

In Old English the noun keeps traces of the þ-stems: ⟨ealu⟩ in the nominative and accusative, ⟨ealoð⟩ in the genitive and dative singular.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record is in a Kentish charter of 805×810 (S 1188), in which Oswulf and his wife Beornthryth grant land to Christ Church, Canterbury, and lay down food renders, among them XXX ombra godes welesces aloð “thirty ambers of good Welsh ale”.^[7][8] It survives in a single sheet of the ninth century, which Parsons held to be genuine and contemporary and Campbell a copy of the original.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Old English had ealu beside bēor; Ælfric says that John the Baptist drank neither wine, beor nor ealu.^[9] Rents in ale, among them Wilisc ealaþ “Welsh ale”, are fixed in the laws of Ine.^[10][11] In the Orosius the Estonians brew no ale but have mead enough.^[7] In compounds the word stands for a feast or drinking, as in the ealubenċ “ale bench” and ealuwǣġe “ale cup” of the poems.^[1]

The word lived on as Middle English ale, which until hops came into use in the fifteenth century meant the same as ber.^[12]

Timeline

• 805×810 – welesces aloð “of Welsh ale” in a charter of Oswulf, in a ninth-century single sheet.^[8][7]
• s. x¹ or x²/⁴ – ne bið ðær nænig ealo gebrowen mid Estum in the Old English Orosius.^[13][7]
• s. x med. – ealo among the provisions in the Old English Boethius.^[14][15]
• s. x med. – in remedies in Bald's Leechbook.^[16][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. ale, beer.^[9][17]
2. (in compounds) a feast, drinking.^[1]

Word family

• ealubenċ
• ealuhūs
• ealufæt
• ealugāl
• ealuwǣġe
• ealugafol
• ealuġeweorc
• brȳdealu

Descendants

• Middle English ale (→ English ale; Scots yill; Scots ale)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 23
3. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 16
4. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. ealuþ
5. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 84
6. ^ Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 2.103
7. ^ a b c d e Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
8. ^ a b c The Electronic Sawyer: Online Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Charters, revised ed. by S. E. Kelly and R. Rushforth, King's College London / University of Cambridge, esawyer.lib.cam.ac.uk, p. S 1188
9. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 231
10. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 227
11. ^ Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 58
12. ^ 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. ^ 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. 249
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. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 158
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. ^ Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 95