Etymologically
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neah

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Pronunciation

  • /næ͜ɑːx/[1]

Forms

nēah (comparative nēar or nēr, superlative nīehst)[1]

  • Anglian: nēh, in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *nāhw, from Proto-Germanic *nēhw (“near”), an adverb made from the adjective *nēhwaz (“near”).[1][4] Related forms are Gothic 𐌽𐌴𐍈𐌰 (nēhwa), the Old Norse prefix ná-, Old Frisian nei, Old Saxon nāh and Old High German nāh.[4][5][6]

Kroonen calls it a lengthened-grade adjective from the root Proto-Indo-European *h₂neḱ- (“to reach”), the root of the preterite-present verb ġenugan (“to suffice”).[4] Holthausen compares Lithuanian pranókti (“to overtake”) and Latvian nākt (“to come”),[5] and Köbler gives the same root, Pokorny's *enek̑- “to reach”.[6] Etymonline, by contrast, calls the word of uncertain origin and without cognates outside Germanic.[7]

The West Saxon form shows the long vowel /æː/ broken to a diphthong before /x/: *nǣuh became nēah.[8][9] Anglian smoothed the diphthong again, hence ⟨nēh⟩.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in the Old English gloss of the Vespasian Psalter, of the middle of the ninth century, in its Anglian form: Ne eardað neh ðe awerged “the wicked one shall not dwell near you” renders the Latin “Non habitabit iuxta te malignus” of Psalm 5.[10][11] In an agreement about land at Chart in Kent of 867×870, in a contemporary single sheet, the comparative is used of kinship: Æthelmod has no kinsman neor ðes cynnes “nearer of kin” than Eadwald.[12]

Semantic evolution

As an adverb it means near in place (feor oþþe nēah “far or near”), near in time and lately, and in degree nearly or almost.[13][14] As a preposition it takes the dative and often follows its noun.[15] The adjective means near or close, and in the glosses renders Latin “proximus” and “prope”;[13][6] the comparative also means later and the superlative last, on ðǣm nēhstan dæġe “on the last day”, or nearest in kinship, nīehstan māgas “nearest kinsmen”.[13] Liebermann records the comparative nēr in the laws in the sense “with a better legal claim”.[16]

The word lived on as Middle English neigh, now English nigh.[17][7] Its comparative and superlative became words of their own, near and next.[7][15]

Timeline

  • s. ix med. – neh ðe “near you” in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.[10][11]
  • 867×870 – neor ðes cynnes “nearer of kin” in a Kentish agreement, in a contemporary single sheet.[12]
  • 890×897 – in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).[18][11]
  • s. x¹ or x²/⁴ – neh ðæm garsecge “near the ocean” in the Old English Orosius.[19][11]
  • s. x/xi – the adverb, the preposition and the superlative nīehsta “last” in the Beowulf manuscript.[15][20]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. near, close by (in place).[13][14]
  2. near in time; lately;[13] nēhst last.[13]
  3. nearly, almost, about.[13][21]

Preposition

  1. (with the dative) near, close to, by.[15][22]

Adjective

  1. near, close, neighbouring.[13][6]
  2. (comparative) later;[13][15] (superlative) last, latest.[13][15]
  3. (superlative) nearest in kinship.[13]

Word family

  • nēalǣċan
  • nēawest
  • nēahġebūr
  • fornēah
  • fulnēah
  • unnēah
  • endenīehst

Descendants

  • Middle English neygh (→ English nigh; Scots ne; Scots ney)[1]
  • ġenugan
  • ġenōg

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 5.93
  3. ^ Pons-Sanz, Sara M. (2007), Norse-Derived Vocabulary in Late Old English Texts: Wulfstan's Works, a Case Study, NOWELE Supplement 22, Odense: University Press of Southern Denmark, p. 54
  4. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 387
  5. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 232
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. néah
  7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 5.21
  9. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 5.42
  10. ^ 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
  11. ^ 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
  12. ^ 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 1200
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 710
  14. ^ a b Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 145
  15. ^ a b c d e f 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. nēah
  16. ^ Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 154
  17. ^ 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)
  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. 499
  19. ^ 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. 249
  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
  21. ^ Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 246
  22. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 647