Etymologically
Log in

of

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 18:35. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

Forms

of[1]

Etymology

It is the unstressed form of æf.[1] Holthausen and Campbell put it beside stressed æf-, which appears in nouns, while of- is the form in verbs, as in ǣfþunca beside ofþyncan.[2][3] Both are inherited from Proto-Germanic *ab (“away from”),[1] the word of Gothic 𐌰𐍆 (af), Old Norse af, Old Frisian af or of, Old Saxon af and Old High German aba.[4][2] Orel identifies it with Ancient Greek ἀπό (apó, “from”) and Latin ab (“from”), and Wiktionary goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó.[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is again the will of the reeve Abba of 833×839, a contemporary single sheet: its endorsement sets out what is owed ðæm higum et Cristes cirican of ðæm londe et Cealflocan, “to the community at Christ Church from the land at Challock”.[5][6] The Corpus Glossary, of the same half-century, glosses Latin “ex phalange” with of ðreote, from the troop.[7][6]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller order its uses from motion out of or off a place to direction from an object it stays joined to; origin and source; the agent, by whom a thing is done; the instrument; the material a thing is made of; removal and separation; the subject spoken of, about; a part taken from a whole; time; and use as an adverb, off, away.[8]

In Old English the main sense was still away;[9] Etymonline traces the shift to the sense of English of to its use in Middle English to render Latin “de” and “ex” and Old French “de”, which had taken the place of the genitive.[9] The spatial sense lives on as Middle English of, off.[10]

Timeline

  • 833×839 – of ðæm londe in the endorsement of Abba's will.[5][6]
  • s. ix¹ – of ðreote glossing “ex phalange” in the Corpus Glossary.[7][6]
  • a1121 – of þe biscoprice in the Peterborough Chronicle.[10]

Meanings

Preposition

  1. from, out of, off, of motion from a place.[8][11]
  2. of origin or source; of the agent, by.[8]
  3. of the material a thing is made of.[8]
  4. about, concerning.[8]
  5. partitive, some of.[8]

Adverb

  1. off, away.[8]

Word family

  • þǣrof
  • ofslēan

Descendants

  • Middle English of (→ English of; Scots o; Scots o')[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 9
  3. ^ Campbell, A. (1959), Old English Grammar, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. § 73
  4. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 1
  5. ^ 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 1482
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ 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. 76
  8. ^ 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. 728
  9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  10. ^ a b 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)
  11. ^ 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. of