lif

Forms

līf n (strong a-stem; genitive singular līfes)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *līb, from Proto-Germanic *lībą (“body; life”).^[1] The noun is found in the other Germanic languages: Old Norse líf (“life, body”), Old Frisian līf, Old Saxon līf and Old High German līb.^[2][3]

Orel connects it with the verb “to live”, Proto-Germanic *libēną, Old English libban;^[2] Wiktionary derives it from *lībaną (“to remain”).^[1] Kroonen explains *libēn- as a stative verb beside a verb “to stay” (Old English belīfan), from the root Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (“to stick”), the meaning “live” having grown out of “remain”.^[4][5] Köbler gives the same root.^[3] Etymonline cites Boutkan that the step from “stick” to “remain” to “live” is only Germanic and disputed.^[6] The sense “body”, which Old English does not have, prevailed in Dutch lijf and German Leib.^[6]

It is a strong neuter a-stem, genitive līfes.^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the mid-ninth-century Old English gloss of the Vespasian Psalter, gescrenc hie in life heara “overthrow them in their life” renders the Latin “supplanta eos in vita ipsorum” (Psalm 16).^[8][9] An earlier grant of Ealdorman Oswulf to Christ Church, Canterbury, dated 805×810, asks for the reward ðaes towardon lifes “of the life to come”; its single sheet is held to be contemporary by some scholars and written in the 840s by others.^[10] The will of Ealdorman Alfred (871×899), also on a ninth-century single sheet, sets þissum life ondwardum “this present life” against þem towardan life “the life to come”.^[11][9]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller give life as the opposite of death, the period during which one lives, and a way of life.^[12] The religious texts set this mortal life against the eternal one: Ælfric speaks of two lives, one mortal and one immortal, and the poets call God lífes brytta “giver of life” and lífes weard “guardian of life”.^[12][13] The genitive is used for “alive” (hwæðer hé lífes wǽre “whether he was alive”), and on līfe means the same.^[12][14] A life under a rule could also mean a religious house: mynecena līf is a nunnery.^[14] In the laws a man may forfeit his life (līfes þolian).^[15] In glosses the word renders Latin “vita”.^[3]

It continued as Middle English lyf, now English life.^[16][6]

Timeline

• 805×810 – ðaes towardon lifes “of the life to come” in a Kentish charter whose single sheet may be contemporary.^[10]
• s. ix med. – in life heara “in their life” in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[8][9]
• 890×897 – in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[17][9]
• s. x/xi – Hé of lífe gewát “he departed from life” in the Beowulf manuscript.^[18][13]

Meanings

Noun

1. life, the state of being alive, as opposed to death.^[12][13][3]
2. a lifetime, the time during which one lives.^[12][14]
3. a way of life, conduct; the life of a religious community.^[12][14]
4. the eternal life of the blessed.^[13]
5. a religious house;^[14] mynecena līf a nunnery.^[14]

Word family

• līflēas
• līflīċ
• līfdæġ
• līfweard
• edwītlīf

Descendants

• Middle English lyf (→ English life; Scots life; Scots leif)^[1]

Related words

• libban
• belīfan

Usage notes

Bosworth and Toller also enter līf as a spelling of lēaf “leave, permission”; the DOE Corpus form lif is shared with that word.^[12][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 247
3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. līf
4. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 336
5. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 335
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 2.12
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 e 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 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 1188
11. ^ 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 1508
12. ^ a b c d e f g Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 638
13. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 616
14. ^ a b c d e f Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 130
15. ^ Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 135
16. ^ 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)
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. 344