Etymologically
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fif

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Pronunciation

Forms

fīf[1] Inflected nominative and accusative fīfe, genitive fīfa, dative fīfum.[2] Lindisfarne Gospels gloss (Northumbrian): fifo.[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *fimf, from Proto-Germanic *fimf (“five”).[1] The Germanic cognates are Gothic 𐍆𐌹𐌼𐍆 (fimf), Old Norse fimm, Old Frisian fīf, Old Saxon fīf and Old High German fimf.[4][5][6] It goes back to Proto-Indo-European *pénkʷe (“five”), the source of Latin quīnque, Ancient Greek πέντε (pénte), Lithuanian penki and Old Irish cóic.[4][5][7]

The Germanic word has /f/ where /hw/ would be expected from the Indo-European /kʷ/: Kroonen explains the second labial by a sporadic change of /kʷ/ to /p/ after a resonant in words beginning with a labial, as in Proto-Germanic *wulfaz (“wolf”).[4] In Old English the nasal was lost before the fricative with lengthening of the vowel, which gave Old English its long /iː/, where Gothic and Old High German keep the /m/.[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The numeral is recorded in the will of Abba, a Kentish reeve, of 833×839, which survives as a contemporary single sheet: & higum an sundran fif hund pending fore mine sawle, "and to the community separately five hundred pence for my soul".[10][11] A contemporary grant of King Æthelberht of 858 has fif sulung landes, "five sulungs of land".[12][11]

Semantic evolution

Before a noun the numeral is usually uninflected, but used alone or after its noun it often takes the plural endings fīfe, fīfa, fīfum.[2][13] The Battle of Brunanburh has fīfe cyningas, five kings dead on the field, and the Chronicle for 942 names five boroughs under the Northmen, the Fīf burga of the laws.[2][14] It glosses Latin quīnque.[6]

The word lived on as Middle English fyf, now English five.[1][15]

Timeline

  • 833×839 – fif hund pending “five hundred pence” in Abba's will, a contemporary single sheet.[10][11]
  • 858 – fif sulung landes in a contemporary charter of King Æthelberht.[12][11]
  • s. ix/x – in the Parker Chronicle.[16][11]
  • s. x/xi – in the Beowulf manuscript.[17][18]

Meanings

Numeral

  1. five.[2][6][19]

Word family

  • fīfta
  • fīftiġ
  • fīffeald
  • fīfnihte

Descendants

  • Middle English fyf (→ English five; Middle Scots fyfe; Middle Scots fyve)[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 286
  3. ^ Cook, Albert S. (1894), A Glossary of the Old Northumbrian Gospels, Halle: Niemeyer, p. s.v. fif
  4. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 140
  5. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 98
  6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. fīf
  7. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 104
  8. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 3.14
  9. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 3.12
  10. ^ 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
  11. ^ a b c d e 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 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 328
  13. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 217
  14. ^ Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 71
  15. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  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. 83
  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. fīf
  19. ^ Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 80