geoguþ

Forms

ġeoguþ f (strong ō-stem; genitive singular ġeoguþe, nominative plural ġeoguþa)^[1] Mercian iuguð in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[2][3] Early West Saxon ġeoguþ, Late West Saxon more often iuguþ.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *jugunþi (“youth”), from Proto-Germanic *jugunþiz.^[1][5] Its cognates are Old Frisian jogethe, Old Saxon juguth, Old Dutch iuginde and Old High German jugund.^[6][7][8]

Orel equates the Germanic noun with Sanskrit युवति (yuvatí, “young woman”), from a form *i̯uu̯n̥ti-, and explains the ⟨g⟩ as a taboo replacement of *w.^[6] Wiktionary reconstructs an earlier *juwunþiz and suggests that its form was influenced by Proto-Germanic *dugunþō.^[1] Holthausen also compares Latin iuventūs (“youth”).^[8] Köbler and Etymonline relate it to the adjective ġeong "young".^[9][10]

The nasal was lost before /þ/ with lengthening of the vowel, PWGmc *jugunþi > *jugų̄þ > ġeoguþ ~ iuguþ.^[5] The spelling ⟨ġeo-⟩ of Early West Saxon shows a diphthong after the initial palatal /j/;^[4] Late West Saxon writes ⟨iu-⟩ more often.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in the Vespasian Psalter gloss, added in the middle of the ninth century: Psalm 42:4 "to gode se geblissað iuguðe mine" glosses the Latin "ad deum qui laetificat iuuentutem meam", "to God who gladdens my youth".^[3][2] Here it is the time of life.^[11]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller separate the state of being young from the young as a group.^[11] Toller's Supplement adds youth as the season of strength and as a time of immaturity, youthful nature, and the young.^[12] In heroic verse ġeoguþ is the band of young warriors, set beside duguþ the tried retainers: duguþe ond geogoþe “old and young” in Beowulf.^[13][11] In the laws it can mean young cattle.^[14] In glosses it renders Latin "iuventus" and "infantia".^[9]

It lived on as Middle English youthe, now English youth.^[1][10]

Timeline

• s. ix med. – iuguðe mine “my youth” in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[3][2]
• 890×897 – on iuguðe “in youth” in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[15][2]
• s. x² – on geoguðe in The Wanderer in the Exeter Book.^[16][1]
• s. x/xi – duguþe ond geogoþe in the Beowulf manuscript.^[17][11]

Meanings

Noun

1. youth, the state or time of being young.^[11][9]
2. the young, young people;^[11][13] (poetic) the young warriors of a lord's following.^[11][13]
3. (law) young cattle.^[14]

Word family

• ġeoguþhād
• ġeoguþfeorh
• ġeoguþlīċ

Descendants

• Middle English youthe (→ English youth; Middle Scots ȝouthe; Middle Scots ȝouth)^[1]

Related words

• ġeong

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c 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
4. ^ a b c Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 5.60
5. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 141
6. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 207
7. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *jugunþiz
8. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 141
9. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. geogoþ
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b c d e f g Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 424
12. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 384
13. ^ a b c 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. ġeogoð
14. ^ a b Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 96
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. 499
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. ^ 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