hand

Forms

hand f (strong u-stem; genitive singular handa, nominative plural handa)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *handu, from Proto-Germanic *handuz (“hand”), a feminine u-stem.^[1][2] The word is found in all the old Germanic languages: Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌿𐍃 (handus), Old Norse hǫnd, Old Frisian hond, Old Saxon hand and Old High German hant.^[3][4][5]

Its origin is uncertain.^[1] Feist lists several explanations: the most popular links it with the Gothic verb behind Proto-Germanic *hinþaną (“to seize”), itself unexplained; others with the word for “hundred”, or with Baltic words for “fist”.^[3] Holthausen too asks whether it belongs with the Gothic verb.^[5] Köbler hesitantly names Proto-Indo-European *ḱent- (“to prick”), and Wiktionary reports Seebold's comparison with Ancient Greek κεντέω (kentéō, “to stab”), a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *ḱómt (“hand”), and the view that the word is not Indo-European.^[4][1]

The word is written both ⟨hand⟩ and ⟨hond⟩, side by side in the poems and the laws.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is recorded from the mid-ninth century: the Old English gloss of the Vespasian Psalter has gif is unrehtwisnis in hondum minum “if there is iniquity in my hands” over Latin “si est iniquitas in manibus meis” (Psalm 7:4).^[8][9] The will of Ealdorman Alfred, of 871×899, which survives in an original of the later ninth century, uses it for an heir: sio neste hond “the nearest hand”, the next of kin, is to take the land.^[10][9]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller give the senses hand, side, power and control, and the person from whom an action comes.^[11] The right and left hand name the two sides (on his swiðran hand), and phrases with it describe giving, pledging and holding: on hand gān “to yield”, on handa sellan “to give a pledge”, to handa healdan “to hold land of another”.^[11][12] Brād hand is the palm of the hand, and the loss of a hand was a penalty in the laws.^[13] In Beowulf the forms hand and hond stand side by side.^[6]

The word lived on as Middle English hond, now English hand.^[1] The old plural handa gave way in Middle English to handen and later hands.^[14]

Timeline

• s. ix med. – in hondum minum “in my hands” in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[8][9]
• s. ix² – sio neste hond “the next of kin” in the will of Ealdorman Alfred.^[10][9]
• 890×897 – tobrocene honda oððe fet “broken hands or feet” in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[15][9]
• 10th century – hrēran mid hondum hrīmċealde sǣ “to stir the ice-cold sea with his hands” in The Wanderer.^[1]
• s. x/xi – hand and hond side by side in the Beowulf manuscript.^[16][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. hand.^[11][4]
2. side, the right or left side; a side in a conflict.^[11][1]
3. power, control, possession, charge.^[12][5]
4. the person who gives, receives or holds something; an heir.^[12][10]

Word family

• handbōc
• handcræft
• handġewrit
• handweorc
• handlian
• handplega
• handġemōt
• handgang
• handseten
• handæx

Descendants

• Middle English hond (→ English hand; Scots hand; Scots haund)^[1]

Usage notes

A rare adverb hand “just, exactly” (hand swa gelice for Latin “similiter”) occurs in a version of the Benedictine Rule and in the Chronicle.^[17][12] Köbler calls it of unknown origin, and Bosworth and Toller asked whether it was a spelling of and.^[18][19]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
3. ^ a b Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 148
4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. hand 1
5. ^ a b c Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 149
6. ^ 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. hand
7. ^ Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 110
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 e 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 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 1508
11. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 507
12. ^ a b c d Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 167
13. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 506
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. 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. 344
17. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 507
18. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. hand 2
19. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 508