oþþe

Forms

oþþe^[1] Early oðða in the will of Abba the reeve, a Kentish charter of 833×839.^[2][3] aeththa in Bede's Death Song and othte with a simplified spelling.^[4] eþþa in the Exeter Book Riddles and the Rushworth gloss, and late oþþon.^[5][6][7]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *eþþō, from Proto-Germanic *ehþau (“or”) in the derivation that Ringe and Taylor give with a query, and point to Old High German eddo and Gothic 𐌰𐌹𐌸𐌸𐌰𐌿 (aiþþau).^[8] The other old Germanic languages have Old Norse eða, Old Frisian jeftha and Old Saxon eftha, and Old High German also odo.^{[9][10][11][12]}

The Proto-Germanic form is uncertain.^[9][1] Orel writes Proto-Germanic *eþþau and calls it an unclear compound, probably of *ef and *þau or of *ex and the same second part.^[9] Wiktionary takes the word to be an alteration of the earlier ofþe, from *efþau, ultimately a suffixed form of the base of gif; it also gives the reconstruction *ehþau, because the ⟨ai⟩ of the Gothic word requires an older /h/ or similar consonant before the /þ/.^[1] Köbler connects the word with a Germanic particle *eþ “and, but”.^[13]

The final vowel ⟨-e⟩ is a problem for the chronology of the Old English sound changes: Ringe and Taylor suggest that the final long vowel was shortened very early, before it was unrounded.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest dated record is the will of Abba the reeve (833×839), a Kentish charter that survives as a contemporary single sheet: Gif hire ðonne liofre sie an mynster to ganganne oðða suð to faranne “if she would rather enter a minster or travel south”.^[2][3] It is also in the Vespasian Psalter gloss of the mid-ninth century and is common in the Pastoral Care of 890×897.^[14][15][3]

Semantic evolution

Toller's Supplement describes it as a particle joining words, phrases or clauses between which there is a choice, and also introducing a clause where no other choice is stated, as in the Orosius, where Ohthere wanted to find out hwæðer ænig mon be norðan þæm westenne bude “whether anyone lived north of the waste”.^[16] Doubled, oþþe … oþþe means “either … or”.^[17] In the laws it can mean “or else, otherwise” after a command, and “respectively”.^[7] It renders Latin aut, vel, sive, seu and an in the glosses.^[13]

In early Middle English the word took an -r, perhaps after words such as “either” and “whether”, as Old High German odo became oder; the reduced form of Middle English other is the English word or.^[18][12]

Timeline

• 833×839 – oðða in the will of Abba the reeve, a contemporary single sheet.^[2][3]
• s. ix med. – in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[14][3]
• 890×897 – frequent in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[15][3]
• s. ix/x – oððe … oððe “either … or” in the Parker Chronicle annal for 894.^[19][17]
• s. x/xi – some twenty-five times in the Beowulf manuscript.^[20][21]

Meanings

Conjunction

1. or, joining words, phrases or clauses.^[17][16][13]
2. oþþe … oþþe either … or.^[17]
3. introducing a clause where no alternative is stated: or, or whether.^[16]
4. (law) or else, otherwise, after a command; respectively.^[7]

Descendants

• Middle English oththe (→ English or; Scots or)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 1482
3. ^ a b c d e f Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
4. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 2.59
5. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 261
6. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 771
7. ^ a b c Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 169
8. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 154
9. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 86
10. ^ Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. jeftha
11. ^ Tiefenbach, Heinrich (2010), Altsächsisches Handwörterbuch / A Concise Old Saxon Dictionary, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter
12. ^ a b Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de
13. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. oþþe
14. ^ 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
15. ^ 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
16. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 678
17. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 770
18. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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. 83
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. ^ 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. oððe