gerefa

Forms

ġerēfa m (weak; genitive singular ġerēfan, nominative plural ġerēfan)^[1]

Etymology

The origin of the word is uncertain, and no cognate is known outside English.^[2][1] By surface analysis it is from Old English ġe- + rēfa, the simplex being recorded beside it, and Köbler connects the simplex with rōf (“strong, famous”).^[3][1] The Oxford English Dictionary, as Wiktionary reports, suggests a link with the second element of seċġrōf and stæfrōf.^[1] A derivation from Proto-West Germanic *garāfijō is unlikely on phonological grounds, since West Saxon has /eː/ where Northumbrian and Mercian have /øː/,^[1] and it is not connected with German Graf (“count”).^[2]

The Anglian and early Kentish spelling ⟨ġerœ̄fa⟩ shows the mid front rounded vowel; in the southern dialects it was unrounded to ⟨ē⟩.^[4] Hogg cites ⟨ġerēfa⟩ in a charter of 805×807 as the earliest Kentish example of the unrounding, against ⟨ġeroēfa⟩ in a Kentish will of the 830s.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Hogg cites ġerēfa from a charter of King Cuthred of Kent of 805×807 (S 41), whose two single sheets are held to be contemporary.^[5][6] The will of Abba, a reeve, of 833×839, also in a contemporary manuscript, begins Ic Abba geroefa cyðe & writan hate hu min willa is, “I, Abba the reeve, make known and have written down what my will is”.^[7][8] In the Corpus Glossary (s. ix¹) geroefa glosses Latin “commentariensis”.^[9][8]

Semantic evolution

The ġerēfa was an official who held local authority for the king or another lord: the king's reeve, the reeve of a shire who collected fines and kept the peace, and the reeve of a bishop or a landlord, who could also act as a steward or bailiff.^[10][11] In the laws he receives pledges and helps other reeves keep the peace.^[10][12] Translators used it for Roman and biblical officials: it renders Latin “praepositus”, “praefectus”, “praeses”, “villicus”, “decurio” and “comes”,^[10][11][3] and used for the Roman “censor” it took on a sense of its own in that context.^[13] In Juliana the pagan prefect is a rīce ġerēfa, “a powerful reeve”.^[10]

It lived on, without the prefix, as Middle English reve, a king's officer or local magistrate, now English reeve.^[14][2]

Timeline

• 805×807 – ġerēfa in a Kentish charter (S 41) surviving in contemporary single sheets.^[5][6]
• 833×839 – Ic Abba geroefa in the will of Abba, reeve (S 1482).^[7][8]
• s. ix¹ – geroefa glossing “commentariensis” in the Corpus Glossary.^[9][8]
• s. ix/x – the reeve who rode to meet the first three ships of the Danes, in annal 787 of the Parker Chronicle.^[15][8]
• s. x² – the rīce ġerēfa of Juliana in the Exeter Book.^[16][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. a reeve, an official with local jurisdiction under the king; the sheriff of a shire.^[10][3]
2. a steward or bailiff of a lord or a bishop.^[11]
3. rendering a Roman or foreign title: a prefect, governor, consul, count.^[10][11]

Word family

• scīrġerēfa
• burhġerēfa
• swānġerēfa
• wealhġerēfa
• ġerēfmann

Descendants

• Middle English reve (→ English reeve)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. gerœ̄fa
4. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 5.77
5. ^ a b c Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 5.192
6. ^ a b 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 41
7. ^ a b 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 1482
8. ^ a b c d e Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
9. ^ 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
10. ^ 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. 430
11. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 393
12. ^ Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 96
13. ^ Durkin, Philip (2014), Borrowed Words: A History of Loanwords in English, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 163
14. ^ 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)
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. 83
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