Etymologically
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fyr

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Pronunciation

Forms

fȳr n (strong a-stem; genitive singular fȳres)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *fuir, from Proto-Germanic *fōr (“fire”).[1][2] The noun is shared by Old Norse fýrr, Old Frisian fiūr, Old Saxon fiur, Old Dutch fuir and Old High German fiur, while Gothic 𐍆𐍉𐌽 (fōn), genitive ⟨funins⟩, is an n-stem.[2][3][4]

Kroonen explains it as an old heteroclitic noun, reconstructed before Germanic as Proto-Indo-European *péh₂-ur with genitive *ph₂-un-ós, the word behind Hittite paḫḫur and Ancient Greek πῦρ (pûr).[2][1] Proto-Germanic still had the alternation, nominative *fōr beside genitive *funins;[2] Gothic generalised the n, West Germanic the r, and the umlauted vowel of the Old English, Old Norse and Old High German forms goes back to the dative.[2] Lehmann also notes how much the paradigm was remodelled in Germanic.[4] Holthausen adds the Umbrian, Czech, Tocharian and Armenian words.[5]

Ringe and Taylor take the West Germanic form, of two syllables, to have contracted to ⟨fȳr⟩; they call the stages between uncertain, though *fuïr > *fyïr > fȳr is plausible.[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in the mid-ninth-century gloss of the Vespasian Psalter: “Rineð ofer ða synfullan giren fyres & swefelrec”, he will rain snares of fire and brimstone on the sinners, for the Latin “laqueos ignis” of Psalm 10:7.[8][9] In the Pastoral Care (890×897) God chastens with the trial of fire to burn away the rust of our vices.[10][9]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller's Supplement sets out fire in general, fire as one of the four elements, the fire of hell, and in fȳre wesan “to be on fire”; then a fire as fuel burning, a fire on the hearth (glossing “lar”, “focus”), a burning brand, fire from heaven or lightning, and a disease, wilde fȳr for “erysipelas”.[11][12] In the laws fire is a thief when a man burns a tree in another's wood, and fire beside flood stands among the heathen things men should not worship.[11][13] The Chronicle records þæt wilde fyr in 1032.[11]

The word continued as Middle English fyr, now English fire.[14]

Timeline

  • s. ix med. – giren fyres “snares of fire” in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.[8][9]
  • 890×897 – mid fyres broce “with the affliction of fire” in the Pastoral Care.[10][9]
  • s. x/xi – in fyres fæþm “into the fire's embrace” in the Beowulf manuscript.[12][15]

Meanings

Noun

  1. fire; fire as one of the four elements.[12][11]
  2. the fire of hell.[11]
  3. a fire; a fire on the hearth.[11][16]
  4. a burning brand.[11]
  5. fire from heaven, lightning.[11]
  6. (medicine) wilde fȳr, erysipelas.[11]

Word family

  • bǣlfȳr
  • heaðofȳr
  • wælfȳr
  • bēacenfȳr
  • cwicfȳr
  • fȳrbend
  • fȳrcynn

Descendants

  • Middle English fyr (→ English fire; Middle Scots fyr; Middle Scots fyre)[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 151
  3. ^ Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 103
  4. ^ a b Lehmann, Winfred P. (1986), A Gothic Etymological Dictionary, based on the third edition of Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache by Sigmund Feist, Leiden: Brill, p. 148
  5. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 120
  6. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 225
  7. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 318
  8. ^ 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
  9. ^ 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
  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. 499
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 276
  12. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 351
  13. ^ Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 84
  14. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  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. 344
  16. ^ Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 92