leof

Forms

lēof (comparative lēofra, superlative lēofest or lēofost or lēofast)^[1] Northumbrian (Lindisfarne gloss): leaf beside leof.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *leubaz (“dear, beloved”).^[1] The adjective is found in Gothic 𐌻𐌹𐌿𐍆𐍃 (liufs), Old Norse ljúfr, Old Frisian liāf, Old Saxon liof and Old High German liob.^[3][4][5][6]

Kroonen reconstructs it as an o-stem Proto-Indo-European *leubʰ-o- and calls it a European adjective, formally the same as the Slavic adjective Proto-Slavic *ľubъ (“dear”).^[3] Orel too takes the Germanic and Slavic words as identical.^[4] Köbler connects it with the root *leubʰ- “to like, desire”, and Wiktionary counts it among the oldest Germanic adjectives of its type because of the Slavic cognate.^[6][1] Holthausen and Kroonen link it by ablaut with lufu (“love”), and Holthausen also with lof (“praise”) and lēaf (“permission”).^[5][3] Heidermanns lists it among the Germanic primary adjectives.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest records are in the mid-ninth-century gloss of the Vespasian Psalter, where the weak form is used as a noun: se leofa swe swe sunu anhyrnra “the beloved like the son of unicorns” (Psalm 28) and cyning megna ðes leofan “king of the hosts of the beloved”, rendering “dilectus” (Psalm 67).^[8][9]

Semantic evolution

Of persons the adjective means dear, beloved; of things, pleasant, acceptable, valued.^[10][11] The comparative in him wæs lēofre “it was dearer to him” expresses preference.^[12] In the glosses it renders Latin “carus”.^[6] Used as a noun it means a loved one or friend, and on its own it was a polite form of address to one person or many, like “sir”, frequent in Ælfric and in letters and charters.^[10][13] The pairing of lēof and lāð, “friend and foe”, is common in the poetry and also found in the laws.^[14]

It became Middle English lef as adjective and noun, now English lief, used mostly in phrases of preference.^[15][16]

Timeline

• s. ix med. – se leofa “the beloved” in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[8][9]
• 890×897 – him bið leofre scande to ðolianne ðonne ðæt god to cyðanne “he would rather suffer shame than make the good known” in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[17][9]
• s. ix/x – him nænig mæg leofra nære ðonne hiera hlaford “no kinsman was dearer to them than their lord” in the Parker Chronicle (annal 755).^[18][9]
• 899×924 – Leof, ic ðe cyðe hu hit wæs ymb ðæt lond æt Funtial “Sir, I will tell you how it went with the land at Fonthill”, the opening of a letter to King Edward, in a single sheet of the early tenth century.^[19]
• s. x/xi – frequent in the Beowulf manuscript, with the comparative lēofre and superlative lēofost.^[20][11]
• c. 1250 – the English adverb lief “gladly”, from the Middle English adjective.^[16]

Meanings

Adjective

1. of persons: dear, beloved.^[10][11]
2. of things: pleasant, acceptable, valued.^[10][12]
3. comparative lēofra: preferable;^[12] him wæs lēofre “he would rather”.^[12]

Noun

1. a loved one, a friend.^[10]
2. as a form of address to one or more people: sir.^[10][13][12]

Word family

• lēoflīċ
• lēoflīċe
• unlēof
• oferlēof
• efenlēof
• lēofwende

Descendants

• Middle English lef (→ English lief; English livelong; Scots lief)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Cook, Albert S. (1894), A Glossary of the Old Northumbrian Gospels, Halle: Niemeyer, p. s.v. leaf
3. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 332
4. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 241
5. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 199
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. lēof
7. ^ Heidermanns, Frank (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der germanischen Primäradjektive, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter
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 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 d e f Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 631
11. ^ 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. lēof
12. ^ a b c d e Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 128
13. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 611
14. ^ Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 133
15. ^ 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)
16. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
17. ^ 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
18. ^ 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. 83
19. ^ 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 1445
20. ^ 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