Etymologically
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feower

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈfe͜oː.wer/[1]

Forms

fēower[1]

  • Northumbrian: fewer, feuor, feor (Lindisfarne Gospels gloss).[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *feuwar, from Proto-Germanic *fedwōr (“four”).[1][3] Its cognates are Gothic 𐍆𐌹𐌳𐍅𐍉𐍂 (fidwor), Old Norse fjórir, Old Frisian fiūwer, Old Saxon fiuwar and Old High German fior.[4][5]

The word continues Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwóres (“four”), the source also of Latin quattuor, Ancient Greek τέσσαρες (téssares), Old Irish cethair and Lithuanian keturi.[1][4][6] Kroonen and Wiktionary explain the Germanic /f/, where /hw/ would be expected, by the influence of the word for “five”.[4][1] Kroonen finds the West Germanic stem hard to derive regularly from *fedwar-, and thinks it pointless to set up a separate pre-Germanic stem for it.[4] Holthausen had derived the Old English and the other West and North Germanic forms from such a stem, beside the Gothic one.[6]

Ringe and Taylor take the Proto-Germanic form through *fewwār, with the cluster assimilated, to the Proto-West Germanic one;[3] the Old High German form was remade after the ordinal fiordo.[3] The diphthong *eu appears in Old English as ⟨ēo⟩, and the unstressed vowel was shortened and fronted, *feuwær > fēower.[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The numeral is first recorded in the will of the reeve Abba (833×839), a contemporary single sheet from Christ Church, Canterbury: & Freoðomund foe to minum sweorde & agefe ðeræt feower ðusenda “and let Freothomund take my sword and pay four thousand for it”.[9] In the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20, 890×897) the author writes ic hi todæle on feower “I divide it into four”.[10][11]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller show the numeral used uninflected before a noun, and inflected, as fēowere, genitive fēowra and dative fēowerum, especially when it stands alone.[12][13] With sum the genitive means one of four, or one with three companions: Hannibal fled feowra sum with four horsemen in the Orosius.[13][14] It also stands for “four times”, and with a multiple of ten in numbers such as fēower and twēntiġ.[13] The Northumbrian gloss of the Lindisfarne Gospels writes it fewer, feuor and feor.[2]

It lived on as Middle English four, now English four.[15][16]

Timeline

  • 833×839 – feower ðusenda “four thousand” in the will of the reeve Abba.[9]
  • 890×897 – on feower “into four” in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).[10][11]
  • s. x² – from feowerum foldan sceatum “from the four corners of the earth” in Christ in the Exeter Book.[17][12]
  • s. x³/⁴ – fewer, feuor in the Lindisfarne Gospels gloss.[18][2]
  • a1126 – Feower in the Peterborough Chronicle, in Middle English.[15]

Meanings

Numeral

  1. four.[12][5]
  2. fēowra sum: one of four, or one with three others.[13][14]
  3. four times.[13]

Word family

  • fēorþa
  • fēowertiġ
  • fēowertīene
  • fēowerfeald

Descendants

  • Middle English four (→ English four; Scots fower)[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Cook, Albert S. (1894), A Glossary of the Old Northumbrian Gospels, Halle: Niemeyer, p. s.v. feower
  3. ^ a b c Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 41
  4. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 133
  5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. fēower
  6. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 102
  7. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 173
  8. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 333
  9. ^ 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 1482
  10. ^ 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
  11. ^ a b Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
  12. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 281
  13. ^ 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. 214
  14. ^ a b Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 70
  15. ^ 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)
  16. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  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. 223
  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. 291