ende

Forms

ende m (strong ja-stem; genitive singular endes, nominative plural endas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *andī, from Proto-Germanic *andijaz (“end”).^[1][2] Kroonen calls it a ja-stem found in all the Germanic languages: Gothic 𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌴𐌹𐍃 (andeis), Old Norse endir, Old Frisian ende, Old Saxon endi and Old High German enti.^[3][4][5] The oldest languages make it masculine; it became neuter in the continental West Germanic languages only later.^[3]

Kroonen reconstructs the Indo-European form as Proto-Indo-European *h₂entíos, a derivative of Proto-Indo-European *h₂ent- (“front, forehead”).^[3][1] Orel bases it on the adverb that gave Ancient Greek ἀντί (antí, “opposite”), comparing in particular Ancient Greek ἀντίος (antíos, “opposite”).^[4] Holthausen also compares Latin antīquus (“old”) and Latin anterior (“former”).^[5]

The Proto-West Germanic nominative ending *-ī did not fall away but survives as its final -e.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is recorded from the mid-ninth century: the Old English gloss of the Vespasian Psalter has hefe up in endum feonda ðinra “be lifted up in the borders of your enemies” over Latin “exaltare in finibus inimicorum tuorum” in Psalm 7.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

The word meant both the end of something in time, a conclusion, and its outer limit in space, a border or extremity: á bútan ende “for ever without end”, and in the poetry holtes on ende “at the edge of the wood”.^[8][9] From the outer part it came to mean a part or quarter: a corner of a church, on feówer endum “in the four quarters” of the world, a district of a country, a division of an army.^[8][9] It also meant “kind, sort”, rendering Latin “species” in Bede, and “death”.^[8][10][5] In the glosses it renders Latin “finis”, “terminus” and “angulus”.^[11]

In the laws it is the end of life or of a lawsuit, a district, and a direction.^[12] The word lived on as Middle English ende, now English end.^[13][14]

Timeline

• s. ix med. – in endum feonda ðinra “in the borders of your enemies” in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[6][7]
• 890×897 – æfter stræta endum “at the ends of the streets” in the Pastoral Care.^[15][7]
• s. x¹ or x²/⁴ – the four quarters of the world in the Old English Orosius.^[16][9]
• s. x/xi – often in the Beowulf manuscript.^[17][18]
• c. 1175 – Middle English Oð heoræ lifes ende in a Bodley homily.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. the end, close, conclusion.^[8][10]
2. an outer limit, border, extremity.^[9][19]
3. a part, portion; a corner; a quarter or direction.^[8][19]
4. a district, region; a division of an army.^[9][10]
5. a kind, sort, species.^[8][10]
6. death.^[10][11]

Word family

• endian
• endelēas
• endelēasnes
• endedēaþ
• endebyrdnes
• endemest
• ēastende
• westende
• woruldende

Descendants

• Middle English ende (→ English end; Middle Scots end; Middle Scots ende)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 15
3. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 27
4. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 18
5. ^ a b c Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 90
6. ^ 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
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c d e f Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 250
9. ^ a b c d e Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 187
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. 104
11. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. ėnde
12. ^ Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 62
13. ^ 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)
14. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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. 499
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. 249
17. ^ 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
18. ^ 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. ende
19. ^ a b Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 73