fedan

Forms

fēdan (weak class 1; third-person singular present fēdeþ, past singular fēdde, past plural fēddon)^[1] Also fœdan, with the rounded vowel.^[1][2] The Rushworth gloss of Matthew 22:4 has foede “fattened”.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *fōdijan, from Proto-Germanic *fōdijaną (“to feed”).^[1] The verb is found throughout Germanic: Gothic 𐍆𐍉𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (fōdjan), Old Norse fœða, Old Frisian fēda, Old Saxon fōdian and Old High German fuoten.^[4][2]

It is a weak verb of the first class beside the noun fōda (“food”).^[2] Orel derives the verb from the Proto-Germanic noun *fōđōn, which he bases on an Indo-European root also found in Hittite paḫš- (“to guard”) and Latin pāscō (“to feed, to pasture”).^[4] Kroonen, as Wiktionary reports, takes it instead as the causative of a lost strong verb *faþaną, from the zero grade of Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- (“to protect, graze, feed”) extended with ⟨t⟩, and compares Ancient Greek πατέομαι (patéomai, “to eat”).^[1] Köbler refers it to the same root.^[2]

The root vowel is Proto-Germanic /oː/ fronted by i-umlaut to /øː/, which was unrounded to /eː/, especially in the southern dialects.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is first recorded in the Pastoral Care (890×897), in Christ's words to Peter: Fed ðonne min sceap, gif ðu me lufige “then feed my sheep, if you love me”; the next sentence speaks of seo feding ðara sceapa “the feeding of the sheep”.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth–Toller and Toller's Supplement give the senses to give food to, literally and of the soul fed with God's word; to suckle or nurse a child; to fatten; to support or maintain, as the Creator nourishes all that grows; and to bring up or foster.^[8][3] The Old English Bede complains that women disdain to nurse their own children, wiif forhycgað heora bearn fedan, and give them to other women.^[9][7] Sweet and Clark Hall add to bring forth fruit or children.^[10][11] In glosses it renders “alere”, “cibare”, “nutrire”, “pascere” and “lactare”.^[2]

In the laws a prisoner's kinsmen are to feed him, and the reeve when he has none, and a later text speaks of feeding a dog.^[12][3] Toller's Supplement also quotes an early past tense fæddæ, of the she-wolf that fed Romulus and Remus.^[3]

The verb lived on as Middle English feden, now English feed.^[13][14] English added the intransitive sense “take food, eat” in the late fourteenth century.^[14]

Timeline

• 890×897 – Fed ðonne min sceap “then feed my sheep” in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[6][7]
• s. x in. or xi¹ – heora bearn fedan “to nurse their children” in the Old English Bede (Tanner 10).^[9][7]
• s. x¹ or x²/⁴ – in the Old English Orosius, women who reared their girl children and killed the boys.^[15][3]
• s. x² – Mægen mon sceal mid mete fedan “one must feed strength with food” in the Exeter Book.^[16][8]
• a1150 – Middle English fedeð “feeds” in a homily of the twelfth century.^[13]
• late 14th century – the intransitive sense “eat” in English.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. to feed, give food to; figuratively, of the soul.^[8][3]
2. to suckle or nurse a child.^[3][10]
3. to fatten.^[3]
4. to support, sustain, maintain.^[8][3]
5. to bring up, foster, educate.^[8][3]
6. to bring forth, produce (fruit, children).^[10][11]

Word family

• āfēdan
• misfēdan
• fēding
• ċildfēdende

Descendants

• Middle English feden (→ Scots fede; Scots feid; English feed)^[1]

Related words

• fōda

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. fēdan
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 207
4. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 109
5. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 5.77
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. 499
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c d e Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 273
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. 531
10. ^ a b c Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 77
11. ^ 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. 113
12. ^ Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 68
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. ^ a b c 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. 249
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. 223