feallan

Forms

feallan (strong class 7; third-person singular present fielþ, past singular fēoll, past plural fēollon)^[1] Mercian fallan and Northumbrian falla, without breaking.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *fallan, from Proto-Germanic *fallaną (“to fall”).^[1][2] The strong verb is shared by Old Norse falla, Old Frisian falla, Old Saxon fallan and Old High German fallan.^[4][5][6] Etymonline notes that Gothic lacks it.^[7]

Kroonen explains the verb as a fusion of the adverb Proto-Indo-European *h₂pó (“off”) with the root Proto-Indo-European *h₃elh₁- (“to fall”), compares Ancient Greek ὄλλυμι (óllumi, “to destroy”), and accounts for the double ⟨ll⟩ by a nasal present that was simplified under Osthoff's law.^[4] Orel instead starts from a root Proto-Indo-European *pol- and compares Lithuanian pùlti (“to fall”) and an Armenian verb of the same meaning.^[5]

The Proto-Germanic verb became *fællan, and breaking before ⟨ll⟩ gave the West Saxon form with ⟨ea⟩.^[2] It belongs to the seventh strong class.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is the gloss of the Vespasian Psalter, added in the mid-ninth century: & falleð ðonne he waldeð ðearfan “and falls when he has power over the poor”.^[9][10] The Pastoral Care (890×897) quotes the Gospel: hi feallað begen on ænne pytt “they both fall into one pit”.^[11][10]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth–Toller and the Supplement show the range: a body falling freely, rain and hail; things that come loose and drop, such as teeth or hair; a person losing an upright position; falling before God or a cross in worship; and falling wounded or dead in battle.^[12][13] Of water it means to flow, as in the Orosius where the sea runs up into the land.^[12][14] Figuratively it means to fail or decay, and Clark Hall records on lufe feallan “to fall in love”.^[14][13] Glossators set it for Latin “cadere”, “decidere” and “procidere”.^[6] The laws use it of dying in war.^[15]

The verb lived on as Middle English fallen, now English fall.^[16][7]

Timeline

• s. ix med. – falleð in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[9][10]
• 890×897 – hi feallað begen on ænne pytt in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[11][10]
• s. x³/⁴ – Northumbrian falla in the Lindisfarne Gospels gloss.^[17][3]

Meanings

Verb

1. to fall, drop down.^[13][6]
2. to come loose and drop off.^[12]
3. to fall in battle, to die.^[12][14]
4. to prostrate oneself in worship.^[12]
5. to fail, decay.^[13][14]
6. of water: to flow.^[12][14]

Word family

• āfeallan
• befeallan
• ġefeallan
• forfeallan
• tōfeallan
• offeallan
• ætfeallan

Descendants

• Middle English fallen (→ English fall; Scots faw)^[1]

Related words

• fiellan

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 185
3. ^ a b Cook, Albert S. (1894), A Glossary of the Old Northumbrian Gospels, Halle: Niemeyer
4. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 125
5. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 91
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. feallan
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 348
9. ^ 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
10. ^ 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
11. ^ 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
12. ^ 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. Suppl. 206
13. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 271
14. ^ 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. 112
15. ^ Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 68
16. ^ 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)
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. 291