hyf

Forms

hȳf f (strong ō-stem; genitive singular hȳfe, nominative plural hȳfa)^[1] Early nominative plural hyfi in the Corpus Glossary.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *hūfi (“beehive”).^[1] Holthausen and de Vries connect it with Old Norse húfr (“hull of a ship”) and with a Low German dialect word for a beehive.^[4][5]

Outside Germanic they compare Latin cūpa (“tub, cask”), Ancient Greek κύπη (kúpē, “hollow”), κύπελλον (kúpellon, “cup”) and Sanskrit कूप (kūpa, “pit, hollow”), and trace the group to the root Proto-Indo-European *kewp- (“round container, bowl”), an extension of a root meaning to bend.^{[4][5][6][1][7]} De Vries reports Trier's view that the starting point was a woven basket.^[5]

It is a feminine i-stem with a heavy stem; the Corpus Glossary's plural ⟨hyfi⟩ keeps an archaic i-stem ending.^[8][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record is in the Corpus Glossary, written in the first half of the ninth century: Aluearia hyfi, Latin “alvearia” glossed “hives”.^[9][3]

Semantic evolution

Most of the records are glosses of Latin “alvearium”, with “canistrum” in Ælfric's Glossary.^[10][6] In the prose it occurs in remedies to keep bees at home, as in the Herbarium: gehoh hy to ðære hyfe “hang it on the hive”.^[11][3] A Vercelli homily compares Christians hurrying to church with the bees that hurry to hira hyfe “to their hive”.^[12][3]

It lived on as Middle English hyve, now English hive.^[13][7]

Timeline

• s. ix¹ – hyfi glossing “alvearia” in the Corpus Glossary.^[9][3]
• s. x² – swa ða bion doð to hira hyfe “as the bees do to their hive” in a Vercelli Book homily.^[12][3]
• s. xi¹ or xi med. – hanging a plant on the hive so that the bees stay, in the Old English Herbarium.^[11][3]
• ?a1200 – hoh hi to þare hufe in a Middle English copy of the same remedy.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. a hive, a beehive.^[10][14][6]

Descendants

• Middle English hyve (→ English hive; Middle Scots hyfe; Middle Scots hyve)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 2.68
3. ^ a b c d e f g Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
4. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 183
5. ^ a b c de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 265
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. hȳf
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 2.67
9. ^ 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. 76
10. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 579
11. ^ 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. 347
12. ^ 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. 704
13. ^ 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)
14. ^ Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 200