feoh

Forms

feoh n (strong a-stem; genitive singular fēos, nominative plural -)^[1] Also fioh, in the laws of Alfred and Æthelberht.^[2][3] feh in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *fehu, from Proto-Germanic *fehu (“cattle”).^[1] The noun is found in all the old Germanic languages: Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌹𐌷𐌿 (faihu), Old Norse fé, Old Frisian fiā, Old Saxon fehu and Old High German fihu.^[6][7][8] It continues the u-stem Proto-Indo-European *pék-u-, the source also of Sanskrit पशु (paśú, “cattle”), Latin pecū (“cattle”) and Lithuanian pẽkus.^[6][7][1] Kroonen derives it from the root *pek- (“to pluck wool”), and takes this as a sign that the first livestock of the Indo-Europeans were sheep rather than cows.^[6][9]

Short /e/ was broken to ⟨eo⟩ before /x/, as in feohtan.^[10] Wiktionary notes that the word must have passed into the a-stems, losing its -u, before medial /h/ was lost; otherwise it would have become ⟨fēo⟩.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in the Old English gloss of the Vespasian Psalter, of the mid-ninth century, in the form feh: in a psalm verse the righteous man feh his ne salde to westemscette, “did not give his money at interest”.^[4][5] An agreement about land at Chart in Kent, of 867×870 and surviving in a contemporary single sheet, has agefe ðet feoh, “let him give back the money”.^[11][5]

Semantic evolution

The word covers cattle and livestock, movable goods and property, and money, riches and treasure;^[12][13][3] Bosworth and Toller put the sense “cattle” first, and the laws use it for both cattle and money.^[12][13][3] In Beowulf it means money or wealth.^[14] Licgende feoh is ready money, gold and silver.^[15] In the glosses it renders Latin “pecunia”, “pretium” and “substantia”.^[9] It is also the name of the f-rune.^[13][15] The word lived on as Middle English fe, whose senses merged with those of the Anglo-French fee, a fief, in English fee.^[16][17]

Timeline

• s. ix med. – feh his ne salde to westemscette in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[4][5]
• 867×870 – agefe ðet feoh in an agreement about land at Chart, Kent, a contemporary single sheet.^[11][5]
• 890×897 – feoh in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[18][5]
• s. x/xi – dative fēo “money” in Beowulf.^[14][19]

Meanings

Noun

1. cattle, livestock.^[12][13]
2. movable goods, property.^[13][20]
3. money, riches, treasure.^[13][14]
4. the name of the rune for f.^[13][15]

Word family

• cwicfeoh
• feohġerēfa
• feohġīfre
• feohġift
• feohhūs
• feohlēas
• feohlufu
• meldfeoh
• sundorfeoh
• þīefefeoh

Descendants

• Middle English feh (→ English fee; Scots fe; Scots fee)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 288
3. ^ a b c Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 69
4. ^ a b c 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
5. ^ a b c d e f Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
6. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 134
7. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 97
8. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 101
9. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. feoh
10. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 5.22
11. ^ a b 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 1200
12. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 276
13. ^ a b c d e f g Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 114
14. ^ 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. feoh
15. ^ a b c Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 78
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. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
18. ^ 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
19. ^ 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
20. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 210