freond

Forms

frēond m (strong nd-stem; genitive singular frēondes, nominative plural frīend)^[1] Early friond in a Kentish charter of 843×863.^[2] Northumbrian freond and friond in the Lindisfarne gloss.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *friund, from Proto-Germanic *frijōndz (“friend, loved one”), in origin the present participle of *frijōną (“to love”).^[1][4] The word is common Germanic: Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌹𐌾𐍉𐌽𐌳𐍃 (frijōnds), Old Norse frændi (“friend; kinsman”), Old Frisian friūnd, Old Dutch friunt, Old Saxon friund and Old High German friunt.^[5][4][6] In Old English it stands beside the verb frēoġan “to love”, whose participle it was.^[7][8][9]

Kroonen traces the verb, Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌹𐌾𐍉𐌽 (frijon), to an old PIE formation *priH-eh₂-, and compares Slavic and Sanskrit verbs meaning “to take care of” and “to be pleased”.^[5] Wiktionary gives the root as Proto-Indo-European *preyH- (“to like, love”).^[1] Etymonline notes that fēond “enemy” and frēond were often paired in alliteration and are both nouns made from present participles, but are not related to each other.^[10]

It is an nd-stem: early West Saxon has dative singular and nominative plural frīend, with i-umlaut.^[11] Plurals in -as (frēondas) occur only in Anglian texts and in poetry.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest dated record is a grant by Lufu, a servant of God, to Christ Church, Canterbury, of 843×863, which survives as a contemporary single sheet: she gives food from ðem ærfe ðe me God forgef & min friond to gefultemedan “the inheritance that God gave me and my friends helped me to”.^[2][13] In the mid-ninth-century gloss of the Vespasian Psalter, Ðu afeorrades from me freond & ðone nestan renders “Elongasti a me amicum et proximum” (Psalm 87).^[14][13]

Semantic evolution

The word means “friend”, Latin “amicus”, and the poets often pair it with fēond: se feónd and se freónd in Elene.^[8] It was also a kindly form of address to a stranger, as in the Gospels' Eálá þú freónd.^[15] Klaeber adds “supporter, ally”, and notes that the sense “kinsman” is found in Northumbrian.^[9] The Lindisfarne and Rushworth glosses use it for Latin “cognatus” and “parentes”, and in the laws a man's friends are his kin and his supporters in court, for instance at a betrothal.^[15][16] Sweet also gives “lover”.^[17] In glosses it renders “amicus”, “cognatus” and “socius”.^[6]

It continued as Middle English frend, now English friend.^[1][10]

Timeline

• 843×863 – min friond “my friends” in Lufu's grant to Christ Church.^[2][13]
• s. ix med. – freond for Latin “amicum” in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[14][13]
• 890×897 – in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[18][13]
• s. x² – se feónd and se freónd in Elene in the Vercelli Book.^[19][8]
• s. x³/⁴ – mǽg ł freónd “kinsman or friend” in the Lindisfarne gloss.^[20][15]

Meanings

Noun

1. a friend.^[8][9]
2. a supporter, ally; one's backers in a lawsuit.^[9][16]
3. a relative, kinsman; in the plural, one's kin.^[15][16]
4. (as a form of address) friend, to a stranger.^[15]
5. (rare) a lover.^[17][1]

Word family

• frēondlēas
• frēondlīċ
• frēondlufu
• frēondsċipe
• ġefrīend
• wīffrēond

Descendants

• Middle English frend (→ English friend; Scots freend; Scots frende)^[1]

Related words

• frēoġan
• frēo

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 1197
3. ^ Cook, Albert S. (1894), A Glossary of the Old Northumbrian Gospels, Halle: Niemeyer, p. s.v. friond
4. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 114
5. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 155
6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. frēond
7. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 117
8. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 335
9. ^ a b c d 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. frēond
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 2.105
12. ^ Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 3.126
13. ^ 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
14. ^ 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
15. ^ 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. 266
16. ^ a b c Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 81
17. ^ a b Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 90
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. 704
20. ^ 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