gif

Forms

ġif^[1]

• Spellings: gif, gief, gyf, and gyfe once, in the laws of Æthelberht.^[2][3][1]
• Middle English records also Anglian and Kentish gef beside West Saxon gief, gyf.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *jabē (also *jabu), from Proto-Germanic *jabai (“when, if”).^[1][5] Wiktionary explains the Proto-Germanic conjunction as the dative of *jabą (“condition, doubt”) and compares Lithuanian jei (“if, when”).^[1] The same conjunction is Gothic 𐌾𐌰𐌱𐌰𐌹 (jabai, “if”), and its relatives are Old Norse ef, Old Frisian jef, Old Saxon ef and Old High German ibu.^[6][5][7]

Feist assigns the Gothic word to the Indo-European relative stem Proto-Indo-European *yo- with a particle that also appears in 𐌹𐌱𐌰𐌹 (ibai).^[8] Köbler connects it, with a query, with the adverb Proto-Indo-European *e- and a particle *bʰe-.^[5] Etymonline calls its further origin uncertain.^[9]

The Old English form has lost the final vowel, an apocope that Wiktionary calls anomalous; the expected ⟨gyfe⟩ occurs once, in the laws of Æthelberht, if it is not a scribal slip.^[1][3] The initial ⟨g⟩ stood for /j/.^[1][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest dated instance is in the will of Abba, a Kentish reeve, of 833×839, which survives on a single sheet held to be contemporary: is min willa gif me God bearnes unnan wille "it is my wish, if God will grant me a child, [that the land should go to him]".^[10][11] The same document goes on Gif me ðonne gifeðe sie ðæt ic bearn begeotan ne mege "but if it is my fate that I cannot beget a child".^[10]

Semantic evolution

Ġif is the usual conditional conjunction of Old English prose and verse, with the indicative or the subjunctive;^[12][13] Toller's Supplement explains that the indicative presents the condition as real, as in Gyf þū wylt, þū miht "if you will, you can".^[12][13] It also introduces an indirect question, "whether": in Beowulf Hrothgar asks gif him wǣre niht getǣse, whether the night had been pleasant for him.^[14][13] Bosworth–Toller and Clark Hall add the concessive sense "though".^[2][15] In glosses it renders Latin si, sin and dummodo.^[5]

The conjunction continued as Middle English if and yif, now English if, and as Scots gif.^[4][1] Etymonline notes that the Old English ⟨g⟩ was a sound close to the y- of Modern English.^[9]

Timeline

• 833×839 – gif me God bearnes unnan wille in the will of Abba, a contemporary single sheet.^[10][11]
• s. ix med. – in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[16][11]
• 890×897 – in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20), with For ðý me þyncþ betre gif iów swǽ þyncþ in the preface.^[17][2]
• s. x¹ – the spelling gyf in the Old English Orosius.^[18][11]
• s. x/xi – gif and gyf in the Beowulf manuscript.^[19][13]

Meanings

Conjunction

1. if, introducing a condition, with the indicative or the subjunctive.^[2][13][15]
2. whether, introducing an indirect question.^[13][14]
3. though.^[2][15]

Descendants

• Middle English if (→ English if; English yif; Scots gif)^[1]

Usage notes

In the laws Liebermann records the spelling gyf in a few texts and gyfe once, in Æthelberht's code; elsewhere they write gif.^[3] Bosworth–Toller lists a separate noun gif "grace", recorded in Andreas.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 474
3. ^ a b c Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 103
4. ^ a b 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)
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. gief
6. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 142
7. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
8. ^ Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 179
9. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b c 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
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 462
13. ^ a b c d e f 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. ġif
14. ^ a b Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 97
15. ^ a b c Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 154
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. 329
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. 499
18. ^ 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. 249
19. ^ 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