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ofer

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ofer1 over

Pronunciation

  • /ˈo.fer/, [ˈo.ver][1]

Forms

ofer[1]

Etymology

The word for “over” is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *obar, from Proto-Germanic *uber (“over, above”), from Proto-Indo-European *upér, a comparative form of *upo.[1][2] Its cognates are Gothic 𐌿𐍆𐌰𐍂 (ufar), Old Norse yfir, Old Saxon obar, Old Frisian over and Old High German ubar.[3][2] Outside Germanic it matches Ancient Greek ὑπέρ (hupér, “above”) and Latin super (“above”).[1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is in the will of Badanoth Beotting (S 1510, 845×853), a Kentish single sheet of the mid-ninth century held to be genuine and contemporary: he commits his wife and children to the community of Christ Church ober minne dei “after my day”, with the Kentish spelling ⟨b⟩.[5][6]

Semantic evolution

With the dative it marks rest, “over, above, upon”, and with the accusative motion and extent, “over, across, throughout”;[7][8] Klaeber's Beowulf glossary sorts its many instances this way.[7][8] From place it moved to degree (“beyond, more than”), to rule (“over” those one governs), to cause (rejoicing over something), to opposition (“against, contrary to”: ofer þā trēowa “in breach of the truce”) and to time (“after, during”).[9][10] Klaeber also notes a sense “without” at Beowulf 685.[7] As an adverb it means “above”, “across, to the other side” and “beyond” in quantity.[8] In the laws it is used of selling a man over the sea and of feasts reckoned after Twelfth Day.[11]

The word lived on as Middle English over, now English over.[1][12]

Timeline

  • 845×853 – ober minne dei “after my day” in Badanoth Beotting's will.[5][6]
  • 890×897 – the mind that sits ofer ðæm flæsce “over the flesh” and should rule it, in the Pastoral Care.[13][9]
  • s. x² – Wæs halig leoht ofer westenne “holy light was over the waste” in Genesis A (Junius 11).[14][9]
  • s. x/xi – Wiglaf sits ofer Biowulfe “over Beowulf” in the Beowulf manuscript.[15][9]

Meanings

Preposition

  1. (with dative) over, above, upon (of rest).[9][7]
  2. (with accusative) over, across, throughout (of motion and extent).[7][8]
  3. beyond, more than; in addition to.[9][8]
  4. over (of rule or power).[9][10]
  5. against, contrary to, in breach of.[8][10]
  6. (of time) after, during, at the end of.[8][7]

Adverb

  1. above, on high.[8]
  2. across, to the other side.[8][16]

Word family

  • ofercuman
  • oferfaran
  • ofergān
  • ofersēon
  • ofermōd
  • oferhyġd
  • þærofer

Descendants

  • Middle English over (→ English over; English ower; Scots ower)[1]

ofer2 shore, bank

Pronunciation

  • /ˈoː.fer/, [ˈoː.ver][1]

Forms

ōfer m (strong a-stem; genitive singular ōfres, nominative plural ōfras)[1]

  • Early obr in the Corpus Glossary.[17][6]

Etymology

The word for “shore” is inherited from Proto-Germanic *ōferaz.[1] Its nearest relatives are Middle Dutch oever (now Dutch oever), Middle High German uover and German Ufer, with Middle Low German ōver and Old Frisian ōvera.[18][19][20]

Kroonen, Orel and Holthausen compare Ancient Greek ἤπειρος (ḗpeiros, “mainland, coast”), and Kroonen calls this a potential isogloss shared by Germanic and Greek alone.[18][19][4] Köbler instead connects it with the Indo-European adjective Proto-Indo-European *apero- (“hinder, back”).[20]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is in the Corpus Glossary (CCCC 144, s. ix¹), where obr glosses Latin “margo” “edge, border”.[21][6][17]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is an edge or border: the glosses render Latin “margo”, and the medical texts speak of the edges of a sore.[22][20] More often it is land at the edge of water, a river-bank or the sea-shore;[22][23] Beowulf has it once, on ōfre at line 1371.[22][23] In charter bounds it names banks along streams, and it survives in place names such as Over in Cambridgeshire and Wendover.[22][24]

It lived on as Middle English over “shore”, recorded in Laȝamon's Brut and in place names.[25] Middendorff notes that in German the word is northern: Ufer reached the standard language from Low German.[24]

Timeline

  • s. ix¹ – obr for “margo” in the Corpus Glossary.[21][6]
  • s. x¹ or x²/⁴ – neah Rines ofre “near the bank of the Rhine” in the Old English Orosius.[26][6]
  • s. x med. – the edges of a sore in Bald's Leechbook.[27][22]
  • s. x/xi – on ōfre of the mere in the Beowulf manuscript.[15][23]
  • c. 1275 – Middle English sæ-oure “sea-shore” in Laȝamon's Brut.[25]

Meanings

Noun

  1. an edge, border, margin.[22][20]
  2. a river-bank, the sea-shore.[22][10][23]

Word family

  • ēaōfer

Descendants

  • Middle English over (→ English over; Scots offer)[1]

Usage notes

Bosworth and Toller and Clark Hall head the preposition ofer and the noun ōfer separately; the corpus spellings of the noun are mostly inflected (ofre, ofras).[22][28][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. ofer
  3. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 557
  4. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 240
  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 1510
  6. ^ a b c d e f g 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 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. ofer
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 254
  9. ^ 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. 729
  10. ^ a b c d Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 149
  11. ^ Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 160
  12. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  13. ^ 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
  14. ^ 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. 513
  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. 344
  16. ^ Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 35
  17. ^ a b Lindsay, W. M., ed. (1921), The Corpus Glossary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. s.v. obr
  18. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 394
  19. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 290
  20. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. ōfer
  21. ^ 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
  22. ^ a b c d e f g h Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 730
  23. ^ a b c d 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. ōfer
  24. ^ a b Middendorff, H. (1902), Altenglisches Flurnamenbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 98
  25. ^ 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)
  26. ^ 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
  27. ^ 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
  28. ^ Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 255