hlid

Forms

hlid n (strong a-stem; genitive singular hlides, nominative plural hlidu)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *hlid, from Proto-Germanic *hlidą (“lid, cover”).^[1] The noun is also found in Old Norse hlið (“gate, gateway”), Old Frisian hlid, Old Saxon hlid and Old High German lid.^[2][3][4] Orel and Köbler derive it from the strong verb seen in hlīdan (“to cover”), from *hlīdaną.^[2][5]

Orel takes the noun as a derivative in *-to- of the root Proto-Indo-European *ḱley- (“to lean”), the same formation as Sanskrit श्रित (śritá, “adhering, situated”).^[2] Wiktionary reconstructs *ḱlitóm (“that which is covered”) from the same root, which it glosses “to shelter, cover”.^[1] Köbler hesitates between that root and *ḱel- (“to hide, cover”).^[3] Holthausen compares Latvian slita (“wooden fence”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the bounds of King Edgar's charter of 958 for Staunton on Arrow in Herefordshire, which survives in what is held to be the original, where the boundary runs ondlong geardes in ðæt hlid get “along the fence to the lid-gate”, and on from the lid-gate along the road.^[6][7] The sense “lid” is first dated in Ælfric's Catholic Homilies I, about 990: Se engel awylte þæt hlid of ðære ðryh “the angel rolled the lid off the tomb”.^[8][7]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller define the word as a lid or cover and as the opening that the cover closes.^[9] Toller's Supplement separates the cover of a vessel or of an opening, used figuratively in a gloss for the “covers” of the sacraments, from a gate or door in a wall or fence, which is the sense of the charter bounds.^[10][11] In the Spelman Psalter hlidd glosses Latin “opertorium”.^[9]

As Middle English lid it named the cover of a pot, chest or tomb and also the eyelid, and it is now English lid.^[12][13]

Timeline

• 958 – in ðæt hlid get in the bounds of Edgar's charter for Staunton on Arrow.^[6][7]
• s. x ex. – the lid of Christ's tomb in Ælfric's Catholic Homilies I.^[8][7]
• c. 1390 – Middle English lift þe lide in Joseph of Arimathie.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. a lid or cover of a vessel or tomb.^[9][10]
2. the opening closed by a cover.^[9]
3. a gate or door in a wall or fence.^[10][14]

Word family

• ēaġhlid
• ġehlid

Descendants

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

Related words

• hlīdan

Usage notes

Clark Hall also gives hlid as a spelling of hlīþ (“slope, hillside”), a different word.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 176
3. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. hlid
4. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 163
5. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. hlīdan
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 677
7. ^ 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
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. 407
9. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 543
10. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 551
11. ^ LangScape: The Language of Landscape: Reading the Anglo-Saxon Countryside, King's College London, langscape.org.uk
12. ^ 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)
13. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
14. ^ a b Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 185