habban

Forms

habban (weak class 3; third-person singular present hæfþ, past singular hæfde, past plural hæfdon)^[1] Early West Saxon present hæbbe, hæfst, hæfð, plural habbað; preterite hæfde; imperative hafa.^[2] The Kentish will of Abba (833×839) has hæbbe and the subjunctive hebbe.^[3] Poetry also has hafast, hafað.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *habbjan, from Proto-Germanic *habjaną (“to have, to hold”).^[1] Kroonen, Orel and Köbler set up the Proto-Germanic verb as *habēn, continued by Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌱𐌰𐌽 (haban), Old Norse hafa, Old Frisian hebba, Old Saxon hebbian and Old High German habēn.^[5][6][7] It is one of the four Old English verbs that keep the old inflection of the third weak class;^[8] Old High German remade such verbs with ⟨-ē-⟩ throughout.^[8]

Kroonen explains it as a stative verb made to the root Proto-Indo-European *kh₂p- (“to seize”), the root of Proto-Germanic *hafjaną (Old English hebban "to lift").^[5] Orel likewise calls it a durative of that verb, and Köbler gives the root as Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to grasp”).^[6][7] Its cognate is Latin capiō (“to take, seize”), not the look-alike habeō.^[9][1] Holthausen left open whether it belongs with that verb or was borrowed from the Latin verb.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is first recorded in the will of Abba, a Kentish reeve, dated 833×839 and surviving as a single sheet that is held to be contemporary.^[11] It begins with Ærest ymb min lond þe ic hæbbe, & me God lah “First, concerning my land that I have and that God lent me”.^[11][12]

Semantic evolution

The basic sense is to have or possess, then to hold in the hand, keep, retain, regard or consider (habban for), and to undergo.^[13][14][15] It renders Latin “habere”, “tenere”, “possidere” and “continere” in glosses.^[7] It is already an auxiliary of the perfect with a past participle, in Beowulf with an inflected or an uninflected participle.^[4] With the inflected infinitive it means "to have to".^[1]

The verb lived on as Middle English haven, English have.^[1][9]

Timeline

• 833×839 – min lond þe ic hæbbe “my land that I have” in the will of Abba.^[11]
• 890×897 – ðonne ðæt ierre æfð anwald ðæs monnes “when anger has power over the man” in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[16][12]
• s. ix/x – swa hwelce dæge swa hie hit habban wolden “whatever day they wished to have it” in the Parker Chronicle (annal 874).^[17][12]
• s. x/xi – hæfde as an auxiliary many times in the Beowulf manuscript.^[18][4]

Meanings

Verb

1. to have, possess, own.^[13][15]
2. to hold in or with the hand.^[14]
3. to keep, retain; to entertain, cherish; to look after.^[15]
4. with for: to consider, esteem.^[15]
5. to be subject to, experience; to get, obtain.^[15]
6. (auxiliary) with a past participle: have, forming the perfect.^[4][15]
7. with the inflected infinitive: to have to.^[1]

Word family

• æthabban
• āhabban
• behabban
• forhabban
• ġehabban
• oferhabban
• ofhabban
• onhabban
• searuhæbbend
• wiþerhabban
• wiþhabban
• ymbhabban

Descendants

• Middle English haven (→ English have; English -'ve; English -a)^[1]

Related words

• hæft
• hebban
• hefiġ

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 6.122
3. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 5.189
4. ^ a b c d 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. habban
5. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 197
6. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 147
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. habban
8. ^ a b Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 6.121
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 143
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b c Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
13. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 496
14. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 491
15. ^ a b c d e f Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 164
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. 499
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. 83
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. 344