fot

Forms

fōt m (nominative plural fēt) (strong consonant stem)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *fōt, from Proto-Germanic *fōts (“foot”).^[1][2] The noun is found in all the old Germanic languages: Gothic 𐍆𐍉𐍄𐌿𐍃 (fōtus), Old Norse fótr, Old Frisian fōt, Old Saxon fōt and Old High German fuoz.^[2][3][4] Gothic has moved it into the u-stems, and Old Saxon and Old High German into the i-stems in the singular.^[3]

It continues the Indo-European word for “foot”, Proto-Indo-European *pṓds, also the source of Sanskrit पद् (pád), Ancient Greek πούς (poús) and Latin pēs.^[1][3] Kroonen describes it as a root noun with the lengthened grade ⟨ō⟩ in the nominative and the e-grade in the genitive, and Germanic kept the lengthened grade throughout.^[2]

Old English kept the root-noun inflection: the dative singular and the nominative and accusative plural have ⟨ē⟩ by i-umlaut, beside ⟨ō⟩ in the other cases.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is in the Épinal Glossary, the oldest English glossary (s. vii ex. or vii/viii), in the plant name hraebnes foot “raven's foot” glossing Latin “quinquefolium”.^[7][8] The simple word for the part of the body is in the Vespasian Psalter gloss of the mid-ninth century: “All ðu underdeodes under fotum his” (“Thou hast put all things under his feet”), over Latin “sub pedibus eius”.^[9][8]

Semantic evolution

The main sense is the foot of a person or an animal, and phrases like sitting at a lord's feet or laying all things under someone's feet express a humble place.^[10][11] The word was also a measure of length: in the Orosius a river floods the land with water a foot deep.^[11] In the laws it is always the part of the body except where it measures length, in the ordeal and in the Pax.^[12] Wiktionary adds the base of something and the metrical foot.^[1]

Middle English fot kept the plural fēt, and the word lives on as English foot, with the measure sense already Old English.^[13][6]

Timeline

• s. vii ex. or vii/viii – hraebnes foot glossing “quinquefolium” in the Épinal Glossary.^[7][8]
• s. ix med. – under fotum his “under his feet” in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[9][8]
• 890×897 – mid ðæm fet “with the foot” in the Pastoral Care.^[14][11]
• s. x¹ or x²/⁴ – mid fotes þicce flode “with a flood a foot deep” in the Orosius, the measure of length.^[15][11]
• s. x/xi – fotum in the Beowulf manuscript.^[16][17]
• Middle English – Middle English fot, plural fēt.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. the foot of a person or an animal.^[10][18]
2. a foot as a measure of length.^[11][19]
3. the lower end or base of something.^[1][20]
4. (prosody) a metrical foot.^[1]

Word family

• fōtlīċ
• fōtmǣlum
• fōtmǣl
• fōtswaþu
• hwītfōt
• hōhfōt
• middelfōt

Descendants

• Middle English fot (→ English foot; Scots fit; Scots fuit)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 152
3. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 110
4. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 113
5. ^ Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 2.110
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ 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. 610
8. ^ 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
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. 329
10. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 327
11. ^ 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. 259
12. ^ Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 80
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. ^ 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
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. 344
17. ^ 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. fōt
18. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. fōt
19. ^ Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 88
20. ^ Middendorff, H. (1902), Altenglisches Flurnamenbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 53