fyllan

Forms

fyllan (w1b; third-person singular present fylleþ, past singular fylde, past plural fyldon)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *fullijan, from Proto-Germanic *fulljaną (“to fill”), a verb made to the adjective Proto-Germanic *fullaz (“full”).^[1][2] The same verb is Gothic 𐍆𐌿𐌻𐌻𐌾𐌰𐌽 (fulljan), Old Norse fylla, Old Frisian fella, Old Saxon fullian and Old High German fullen.^[2][3][4]

Holthausen derives it from full (“full”).^[3] Orel compares a parallel formation in Slavic, Proto-Slavic *pьlniti (“to fill”), and Köbler takes the adjective back to the root Proto-Indo-European *pelh₁- (“to fill”).^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is first recorded in the Corpus Glossary (manuscript of the first half of the ninth century), where the Latin “malina” is glossed fylled flood “a filled flood, a flood tide”.^[5][6] The Pastoral Care of 890×897 uses it of women whose stillborn children ne fyllað hie no mid ðæm hus ac byrgenna “fill with them not houses but graves”.^[7][6]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller give the senses “to fill, to replenish, to satisfy” and “to finish, to complete, to fulfil”; it renders Latin “implere”, “replere”, “saturare” and “farcire”.^[8] The thing a vessel is filled with stands in the genitive, the instrumental or with mid.^[9] In the Lindisfarne gloss to fyllenne renders “adimplere”, fulfilling the law.^[10][6]

The word lived on as Middle English fillen, now English fill.^[11][12]

Timeline

• s. ix¹ – fylled flood for Latin “malina” in the Corpus Glossary.^[5][6]
• 890×897 – ne fyllað hie no mid ðæm hus ac byrgenna in the Pastoral Care.^[7][6]
• s. x³/⁴ – to fyllenne “to fulfil” for Latin “adimplere” in the Lindisfarne Gospels gloss.^[10][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. to fill, fill up, replenish.^[8][4]
2. to satisfy, to sate.^[8]
3. to complete, fulfil.^[8][4]

Word family

• ġefyllan
• oferfyllan

Descendants

• Middle English fillen (→ English fill; Scots fill)^[1]

Related words

• full
• fyllu

Usage notes

Bosworth and Toller also enter a fyllan meaning “to fell, to cast down”, a by-form of fiellan with a separate source; its forms share spellings with this verb.^[8][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 118
3. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 119
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. fyllan
5. ^ 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. 76
6. ^ a b c d e f Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
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. 499
8. ^ a b c d e Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 350
9. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 275
10. ^ 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. 291
11. ^ 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. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. fiellan