full

full¹ full

Pronunciation

• /full/, [fuɫ]^[1]

Forms

full^[1] Also ful; as an adverb ful(l) “very, fully”.^[1][2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *full, from Proto-Germanic *fullaz (“full”).^[1][3] The adjective is shared by Gothic 𐍆𐌿𐌻𐌻𐍃 (fulls), Old Norse fullr, Old Frisian ful, Old Saxon ful and Old High German fol.^[3][4]

Orel derives it from an Indo-European adjective in *-no- made to the root “to fill”, and compares Old Irish lán and Lithuanian pìlnas.^[3] Wiktionary writes the pre-form *pulnos and takes Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁nós to have been the original past participle of Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁- (“to fill”).^[1] The geminate ⟨ll⟩ goes back to the cluster *-ln-.^[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adjective is recorded from the first half of the ninth century in Kentish documents that survive as single sheets.^[6][7] The will of the reeve Abba (833×839), whose sheet the British Museum facsimiles and later scholars hold to be contemporary, lays down a yearly render that includes “sester fulne huniges, sester fulne butran, sester fulne saltes”, a full sester of honey, of butter and of salt.^[6][8] An older grant of Oswulf and Beornthryth (805×810), in a ninth-century sheet that Parsons held contemporary and Campbell a copy of the original, already asks for “mittan fulne huniges”, a full measure of honey.^[7][8] The Vespasian Psalter gloss (s. ix med.) has degas fulle for “dies pleni”, full days.^[9][8]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is “filled, having no space empty”, often with a genitive of what fills it (ful wæteres, full of water) or as a measure (hand full, a handful).^[10][11] From it grew the senses “abounding in” (synna and mana full, full of sins and crimes), “sated with food”, and “complete, entire, perfect”: full cyng a king over the whole land, se fulla mona the full moon, on fullum fleame in full flight.^[12][10] Sweet records full bētan “to make full amends”.^[11] The adverb ful(l) “fully, very” is common in poetry and prose (ful oft very often).^[12][2] Words in -full made from nouns (synnfull, sorgfull) continue the sense “abounding in”.^[10][4]

The word continued as Middle English ful, now English full.^[13][14]

Timeline

• 833×839 – sester fulne huniges “a full sester of honey” in the will of Abba, a contemporary single sheet.^[6][8]
• s. ix med. – degas fulle “full days” in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[9][8]
• s. ix/x – on fullum fleame “in full flight” in the Parker Chronicle.^[15][8]
• s. x/xi – innan full wrætta ond wira “full of treasures and wire-work” inside the dragon's barrow, in the Beowulf manuscript.^[16][8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. full, filled, having no space empty, often with a genitive.^[10][4]
2. abounding in, rich in something, also of qualities and sins.^[10]
3. sated, having eaten enough.^[10]
4. complete, entire, perfect.^[12][17]
5. swelling, plump (in the medical texts).^[17]

Adverb

1. fully, entirely, very.^[12][2]

Word family

• fullīċe
• fyllan
• fyllu
• handfull
• ċēacfull
• synnfull
• sorgfull
• eġesfull
• weorðfull

Descendants

• Middle English ful (→ English full; Scots fou; Scots full)^[1]

full² beaker

Pronunciation

• /full/, [fuɫ]^[1]

Forms

full n (strong a-stem; genitive singular fulles)^[1]

Etymology

The beaker is inherited from Proto-Germanic *fullą (“cup, beaker”),^[1][18] a noun attested in Old English, Old Saxon ful (“beaker, jug”) and Old Norse full (“goblet, toast”).^[18][19][20]

Kroonen treats it as an Indo-European name for a kind of vessel, unrelated to the adjective full, and compares Ancient Greek πέλλα (pélla, “milk pail, drinking bowl”) and Old Church Slavonic поль (polĭ, “scoop”).^[18][1] Holthausen had made the same comparison, adding Latin pelvis (“basin”).^[21] De Vries rejects Torp's explanation as a “filled cup” made from the adjective Old Norse fullr and follows Holthausen.^[22] Klaeber's glossary still glosses it “(filled) cup”.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Lindisfarne gloss (s. x³/⁴) writes full over the Latin “amphora”, a jar or pitcher, in Luke 22:10.^[23][24]

Semantic evolution

In Beowulf the word is the cup borne round the hall: him wæs ful boren, the cup was carried to him, and he þæt ful geþah, he took the cup.^[2][25] The poets also use it for what holds water: ȳða ful “the cup of the waves” is the sea, and lagustrēama full in the riddles names the clouds.^[25] In the medical texts a patient drinks þreo ful fulle, three cupfuls.^[12] The noun is recorded in Middle English as ful “cup” into the thirteenth century.^[14]

Timeline

• s. x³/⁴ – full glossing “amphora” in the Lindisfarne Gospels gloss.^[23][24]
• s. x² – lagustreama full, the clouds, in an Exeter Book riddle.^[25][26]
• s. x/xi – the cup in the hall and yða ful in the Beowulf manuscript.^[2][16]
• c1275 – uul “cup” in Laȝamon's Brut.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. a cup, beaker, especially one filled with drink.^[25][4]
2. (poetic) a vessel of water: ȳða ful the sea; the clouds.^[25]

Word family

• medoful
• seleful

Descendants

• Middle English ful^[14]