pise

Forms

pise f (weak n-stem; genitive singular pisan, nominative plural pisan)^[1] Also piose (the Mercian form) and pyse, pyose.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin pīsa, the Late Latin feminine beside Latin pīsum (“pea”);^[1][5] Holthausen derives it from the Latin plural.^[6] Durkin counts it among the Latin words borrowed early, before about 650, with an unrecorded variant ⟨*peose⟩.^[7][8] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek πίσον (píson).^[9][10] Köbler calls it a loan from an unknown source, and Etymonline gives the Greek word as of unknown origin.^[11][10]

It is a weak feminine noun.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record is the Corpus Glossary, of the first half of the ninth century, which glosses Latin “lenticula” “lentil” with piose.^[12][13]

Semantic evolution

The glossaries use the word for Latin “lenticula”, “lens” and “cicer”, and pisan hosa for “siliqua”, the pod.^[4] It is the garden pea, a plant cultivated from ancient times.^[14] In the medical texts peas are boiled in vinegar, their juice and broth are used, and patients are told to keep away from peas and other foods that cause wind.^[4] In the life of Mary of Egypt the saint takes three grains of lentils, explained as pysan.^[15]

The word lived on as Middle English pese, plural pesen, now English pease; the English pea of the seventeenth century is a false singular made from it.^[3][10]

Timeline

• s. ix¹ – piose for “lenticula” in the Corpus Glossary (CCCC 144).^[12][13]
• s. x med. – pysena among the foods that cause a windy swelling of the spleen in Bald's Leechbook.^[16][13]
• s. xi¹ or xi med. – a root cut on pysena gelicnysse “to the likeness of peas” in the Old English Herbarium.^[17][13]
• mid-17th century – English pea, a singular made from pease.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. the pea, the plant and its seed.^[4][14][2]
2. (glosses) rendering Latin “lenticula”, the lentil.^[4][11]

Word family

• mūsepise

Descendants

• Middle English pese (→ English pease; English pea; Scots pease)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 273
3. ^ 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)
4. ^ a b c d e f Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 774
5. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 245
7. ^ Durkin, Philip (2014), Borrowed Words: A History of Loanwords in English, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 107
8. ^ Durkin, Philip (2014), Borrowed Words: A History of Loanwords in English, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 109
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. peose
12. ^ 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
13. ^ 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
14. ^ a b Bierbaumer, Peter; Sauer, Hans; Klug, Helmut W.; Krischke, Ulrike, eds. (2007–), Dictionary of Old English Plant Names, Graz, oldenglish-plantnames.org, p. s.v. pise
15. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 680
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. 412
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. 347