Etymologically
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ford

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Pronunciation

  • /ford/, [forˠd][1]

Forms

ford m (genitive singular forda, nominative plural forda)[1] Bosworth–Toller gives the genitive fordes and the dative forde or forda.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *furdu, from Proto-Germanic *furduz (“ford”).[1][3] The West Germanic relatives are Old Frisian forda, Old Saxon ford and Old High German furt.[4][5] Kroonen, Orel and Köbler set beside it the full-grade Proto-Germanic *ferþuz, the source of Old Norse fjǫrðr (“fjord, firth”).[3][4][6] Wiktionary explains the pair as a single Indo-European noun in -tu-: *ferþuz continues the nominative, stressed on the root, while *furduz, with Verner's law, generalised the oblique stem.[1]

Kroonen reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *pr̥-tú-, and Köbler a noun *pertu- “passage, ford” to Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to lead across”).[3][6] Outside Germanic Orel and Holthausen compare Latin portus (“harbour”), Avestan pərətu- (“ford, bridge”) and Old Welsh rit (“ford”).[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is recorded from 843, in the Old English bounds (Ðonne ford) of King Æthelwulf's grant of land at Little Chart in Kent; its single sheet is of the mid-ninth century and is held to be contemporary.[7] The bounds of a charter of 846 for the South Hams in Devon run oð wealdenes ford “as far as Wealden's ford”, in a single sheet that some scholars hold to be contemporary and others doubtful.[8]

Semantic evolution

The sense is the same throughout: a shallow place where a river can be crossed, glossing Latin vadum.[2][6] The word is very frequent in the charters, alone and in compounds.[9] Middendorff counts it among the commonest field names, in about a hundred and fifty compounds, and notes the many English place names in -ford.[10] In Beowulf it is used once of the sea, a “water-way”, as Latin vadum could be used of a body of water.[11]

The word lived on as Middle English ford, now English ford.[12][13]

Timeline

  • 843 – Ðonne ford in the bounds of a charter of King Æthelwulf, in a contemporary copy.[7]
  • 846 – oð wealdenes ford in the bounds of the South Hams charter.[8]
  • s. ix/x – æt Bedcan forda in the annal for 571 of the Parker Chronicle.[14][15]
  • s. x¹ or x²/⁴ – neh þæm forda þe mon hæt Welengaford “near the ford called Wallingford” in the Old English Orosius.[16][15]
  • s. x in. or xi¹ – Aidan could fordas oferridan “ride across fords” in the Old English Bede.[17][15]
  • s. x/xi – a water-way of the sea in the Beowulf manuscript.[18][11]
  • c. 1225 – Middle English ford glossing uadum in the Worcester copy of Ælfric's Glossary.[12]

Meanings

Noun

  1. a ford, a shallow crossing of a river.[2][19][6]
  2. (poetic) a water-way, the sea.[11]

Word family

  • mǣrford
  • mearcford
  • wīþigford

Descendants

  • Middle English ford (→ English ford; Scots furde; Scots furd)[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 304
  3. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 160
  4. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 119
  5. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 112
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. ford
  7. ^ 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 293
  8. ^ 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 298
  9. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 236
  10. ^ Middendorff, H. (1902), Altenglisches Flurnamenbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 51
  11. ^ 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. ford
  12. ^ 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)
  13. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  14. ^ 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
  15. ^ a b c Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
  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. 249
  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. 531
  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. 344
  19. ^ Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 124