leaf

leaf¹ leaf

Pronunciation

• /læ͜ɑːf/^[1]

Forms

lēaf n (strong a-stem; genitive singular lēafes)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the leaf is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *laub, from Proto-Germanic *laubą (“foliage”).^[1][2] Its cognates are Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌿𐍆𐍃 (laufs), Old Norse lauf, Old Frisian lāf, Old Saxon lōf and Old High German loub.^[3][4] Proto-Germanic /au/ appears as ⟨ēa⟩, beside the ⟨ā⟩ of the Old Frisian form.^[2]

Holthausen calls it of unknown origin.^[3] Köbler suggests, with a query, the root Proto-Indo-European *leubʰ- (“to peel, break off”).^[4] Wiktionary gives this root or a root *lewp- (“to peel, tear”) as rival explanations.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in the Corpus Glossary, of the first half of the ninth century, where Latin “malua” (mallow) is glossed hocc cottuc uel gearwan leaf.^[5][6] The Vespasian Psalter gloss of the mid-ninth century has swe swe leaf wyrta hreðe fallað “as the leaves of plants quickly fall” for the “holera herbarum” of Psalm 36.^[7][6]

Semantic evolution

The word is the leaf of a tree or plant, and a shoot.^[8] In Genesis A Noah's dove can find no leaf of a tree to land on, and in the Old English Boethius the sap rises until the tree breaks out on leafum & on blostmum “in leaves and blossoms”.^[6] A poem in the Exeter Book has a sentence of God adorned with silver leaves.^[9] It is also the leaf of a book: the Old English Bede tells how leaves of books from Ireland were scraped and the scrapings put in water as a cure.^[8] In the glosses it renders “folium”.^[4]

It lived on as Middle English lef and survives in English leaf.^[10][11]

Timeline

• s. ix¹ – gearwan leaf in the Corpus Glossary.^[5][6]
• s. ix med. – swe swe leaf wyrta in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[7][6]
• s. x in. or xi¹ – the leaves of books from Ireland in the Old English Bede.^[12][8]
• s. x med. – a wound covered mid leafum “with leaves” in Bald's Leechbook.^[13][6]
• s. x² – on leaf treowes “on the leaf of a tree” in Genesis A, in the Junius manuscript.^[14][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. a leaf of a tree or plant; foliage.^[8][15]
2. a shoot.^[8][4]
3. an artificial leaf, as an ornament.^[9]
4. a leaf of a book, a page.^[9][1]

Word family

• goldlēaf
• cawellēaf
• fīclēaf
• hoclēaf
• holenlēaf
• wīnlēaf

Descendants

• Middle English lef (→ English leaf; Middle Scots leif)^[1]

leaf² permission

Pronunciation

• /læ͜ɑːf/^[1]

Forms

lēaf f (strong ō-stem; genitive singular lēafe, nominative plural lēafa)^[1] Also written līf, and lǣfe (dative) in the Chronicle annal for 1043.^[16][8]

Etymology

The word for permission is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *laubu.^[1] Holthausen sets it beside the compounds Old Saxon orlōf, Old High German urloub and Old Frisian orlof, all “leave, permission”.^[3] Köbler reconstructs a Proto-Germanic noun for permission, continued also in Old Norse lof (“permission; praise”), and refers it to the root Proto-Indo-European *leubʰ- (“to like, desire”) of lēof “dear”.^[17][18]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20, 890×897), quoting Saint Paul: Lociað nu ðæt ðios eowru leaf ne weorðe oðrum monnum to biswice “See now that this freedom of yours does not become a stumbling block to other men”, for Latin “licentia”.^[19][6][8]

Semantic evolution

The word is leave or permission, very often in phrases such as be ðæs cyninges leafe “by the king's leave” and butan ðæs bisceopes leafe “without the bishop's permission”.^[8] The laws use it often, and in the Norman laws it is the free choice a man is given.^[20] A late gloss uses it for what is allowed by human law, Latin “fas”.^[9] In the glosses it renders “permissus” and “dimissorium”.^[17]

It lived on as Middle English leve and survives in English leave “permission”.^[10]

Timeline

• 890×897 – ðios eowru leaf “this freedom of yours” in the Pastoral Care.^[19][6]
• s. x in. or xi¹ – butan ðæs bisceopes leafe in the Old English Bede.^[12][8]
• s. x med. – butan Frean leafe “without the Lord's leave” in the Meters of Boethius.^[21][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. leave, permission, licence.^[8][15]
2. (law) free choice, the right to decide.^[20]
3. what is permitted by human law.^[9]

Word family

• ġelēaf

Descendants

• Middle English leve (→ English leave; Scots leve; Scots leiv)^[1]