ful

Forms

fūl^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *fūl (“foul, dirty”), from Proto-Germanic *fūlaz.^[1][2] The adjective is found across Germanic: Gothic 𐍆𐌿𐌻𐍃 (fūls, “foul, putrid”), Old Norse fúll, Old Frisian fūl and Old High German fūl, with Dutch vuil and German faul in the modern languages.^[3][2][4]

Kroonen explains it as a stem in *-lo- built on the root Proto-Indo-European *puH- (“to rot”), the root of Lithuanian pṹliai (“pus”).^[3] Orel derives it from the verb behind Old Norse fúinn (“rotten”) and also points to the Lithuanian word.^[2] Holthausen and Köbler put it with the same root, which has Latin pūs (“pus”) and pūteō (“to stink”) in Latin.^[5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20, 890×897), where a ruler must keep himself clean so that he can wipe from other men's hearts ðæt ðæron fules sie, “whatever is foul in them”.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

The word covers physical dirt and decay, as in fūl wīn glossing Latin “spurcum vinum”, and moral foulness, as in þurh fūle synne “through foul sin” in Christ.^[8] In one riddle of the Exeter Book the speaker is wyrslicre ðonne þes wudu fula, “viler than this rotten wood”.^[8][1] In the laws it is used of a person found guilty: gif se mynetere ful wurþe, “if the moneyer is found guilty”.^[8][9] Used as a noun, fūl means foulness and impurity, and in the laws a crime or guilt.^[10][9] It glosses Latin “foedus”, “olidus” and “putidus”.^[4]

It lived on as Middle English foul “dirty, filthy”, now English foul;^[11] the sense "ugly", rare in Old English, became frequent in Middle English.^[12]

Timeline

• 890×897 – fules in the Pastoral Care.^[6][7]
• s. x in. – a man gives up his oath be fulan in a letter surviving in a manuscript of the early tenth century (S 1445).^[13][7]
• s. x med. – in the Old English Boethius (Cotton Otho A. vi) and Bald's Leechbook.^[14][15][7]
• s. x² – wudu fūla “rotten wood” in a riddle of the Exeter Book.^[16][1]
• a1200 – Middle English ful “dirty” in the Trinity Homilies.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. foul, dirty, filthy, unclean.^[8][10][4]
2. rotten, putrid, stinking.^[8][10]
3. impure, vile, wicked.^[8][10]
4. (law) guilty, convicted of a crime.^[8][9]

Noun

1. foulness, impurity, dirt.^[10][4]
2. (law) a crime, guilt, offence.^[9][10]

Word family

• fūlian
• fȳlan
• fȳlþ
• fūlnes

Descendants

• Middle English foul (→ English foul; Middle Scots foull; Middle Scots fowle)^[1]

Usage notes

The spelling ful also stands for the adverb full “fully, very, well”, as in Wyrd ne ful cūðe “he did not know his fate well” in Juliana.^[8][17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 121
3. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 158
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. fūl
5. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 118
6. ^ 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
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 344
9. ^ a b c d Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 83
10. ^ a b c d e f Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 91
11. ^ 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)
12. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
13. ^ 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 1445
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. 296
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. 412
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. 223
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. full