helpan

Forms

helpan (strong class 3; third-person singular present hilpþ, past singular healp, past plural hulpon)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *helpan, from Proto-Germanic *helpaną (“to help”).^[1][2] The strong verb is found throughout Germanic: Gothic 𐌷𐌹𐌻𐍀𐌰𐌽 (hilpan), Old Norse hjalpa, Old Frisian helpa, Old Saxon helpan and Old High German helfan.^[2][3][4]

Kroonen calls it a verb without a clear etymology.^[2] The nearest comparandum, Lithuanian šelpti (“to help”), would point to a root *kelp-, but the geminate of the Germanic forms is then unexplained, and Kroonen asks whether the Lithuanian verb was not borrowed, through a Slavic word, from Germanic itself.^[2] Orel also links it with the Lithuanian verb, noting that the consonants do not match.^[3] Köbler gives the root Proto-Indo-European *ḱelb- (“to help”) with a query.^[5]

It is a strong verb of the third class.^[1][6] Before /l/ + consonant the vowel stays unbroken in the present, while the past singular has the diphthong ⟨ea⟩ of breaking.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is first recorded in the Pastoral Care of 890×897: a teacher who will not give what God gave him should helpan ðæs folces mid ðam ðe he his healp “help the people with that with which He helped him”.^[8][9]

Semantic evolution

The verb takes its object in the dative or the genitive.^[6][10] Besides “to help, to aid, to succour” it is used of remedies, “to do good to, to cure”, in the medical texts.^[6]

It lived on as Middle English helpen, now English help; the MED sees Old Norse influence on some of its Middle English forms.^[11][12]

Timeline

• 890×897 – helpan ðæs folces “to help the people” in the Pastoral Care.^[8][9]
• s. x med. – lytel drinca helpan “a small drink can help her” of a remedy in Bald's Leechbook.^[13][9]
• s. x/xi – he his mæges healp “he helped his kinsman” in the Beowulf manuscript.^[14][15]
• c. 1013 – God ūre helpe “God help us” in Wulfstan's Sermon of the Wolf.^[1]

Meanings

Verb

1. to help, aid, succour (with the dative or genitive).^[6][16]
2. to benefit, do good to; to cure.^[6][5]

Word family

• ġehelpan
• help
• helpend

Descendants

• Middle English helpen (→ English help; Scots help)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 219
3. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 168
4. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 154
5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. helpan
6. ^ a b c d e Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 527
7. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 5.32
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. 499
9. ^ 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
10. ^ Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 108
11. ^ 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)
12. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
13. ^ 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. 412
14. ^ 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
15. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 530
16. ^ 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. helpan