nosu

Forms

nosu f (strong u-stem; genitive singular nosa, nominative plural nosa)^[1]

• Also neosu.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *nosu, which Wiktionary takes to be related to Proto-Germanic *nasō (“nose”), from Proto-Indo-European *néh₂s (“nose”).^[1] Köbler sets up the same Proto-Germanic noun beside a root noun *nus, from *nas-.^[3] Hogg explains the ⟨o⟩ by the lowering of /u/ before a following back vowel, if the word continues *nusō; the parallel duru did not lower.^[4] Its cognates are Old Frisian nose, Middle Dutch nose, Old Norse nǫs and Old High German nasa.^[5][3][6] Orel takes the Proto-Germanic noun for an old dual and compares Latin nāsus, Lithuanian nósis and Proto-Slavic *nosъ.^[6]

It is a light feminine u-stem, like the word for “door”.^[7] Hogg and Fulk compare its plural with that of sċuldor, which may also be an old dual.^[8] Old English also has nasu, which continues that noun.^[6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is the Pastoral Care in Hatton 20, written 890×897, which lists the blemishes that barred a man from the priesthood under the Old Law: gif he blind wære oððe healt, oððe to micle nosu hæfde, oððe to lytle, oððe eft wo nosu “if he were blind or lame, or had too big a nose, or too small, or else a crooked nose”.^[9][10]

Semantic evolution

The word means the nose, and also a nostril; in the plural it is the nostrils or the nose.^[2][11] In the glosses it renders Latin “nasus” and “naris”.^[2][3] It is used in descriptions of people, as of Paulinus in the Old English Bede, and in the medical texts, where Bald's Leechbook often has a locative nosum.^[2][12] In Beowulf hliðes nosan and brimes nosan name a headland;^[2][11] Bosworth and Toller first placed these under the same word, but Toller's Supplement makes them a separate weak noun nōse.^[2][11]

The word lived on as Middle English nose, now English nose.^[13][14]

Timeline

• 890×897 – to micle nosu “too big a nose” in the Pastoral Care.^[9][10]
• s. x med. – the locative nosum in Bald's Leechbook.^[15][12]
• s. x in. or xi¹ – medmicle nose þynne “a thin, middle-sized nose” of Paulinus in the Old English Bede.^[16][10]
• s. x ex. – medemlice nosu in Ælfric's Catholic Homilies I.^[17][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. the nose.^[2][18][19]
2. a nostril; in the plural, the nostrils.^[11]
3. (poetic) a ness, headland.^[2][1]

Word family

• nosþyrel

Descendants

• Middle English nose (→ English nose; Scots nos; Scots nose)^[1]

Related words

• nasu
• næs
• nose

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 726
3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. nosu
4. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 3.10
5. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 238
6. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 281
7. ^ Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 2.73
8. ^ Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 3.58
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. 499
10. ^ a b c Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
11. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 655
12. ^ a b Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 2.17
13. ^ 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. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
15. ^ 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. 412
16. ^ 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. 531
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. 407
18. ^ Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 148
19. ^ Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 252