reafian

Forms

rēafian (weak class 2; third-person singular present rēafaþ, past singular rēafode, past plural rēafodon)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *raubōn, from Proto-Germanic *raubōną (“to rob”).^[1][2] It is a weak verb of the second class made to the noun rēaf (“plunder, spoil; garment”).^[3][4] Kroonen derives the Proto-Germanic noun *raubaz from the strong verb *reufan-, the source of rēofan (“to break”).^[5]

The verb has counterparts in Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐍂𐌰𐌿𐌱𐍉𐌽 (biraubōn), Old Norse raufa, Old Frisian rāvia and Old High German roubōn.^[6] Köbler gives the Old Norse verb the sense “to break a hole”, and refers the family to the root Proto-Indo-European *reup- (“to tear, break”), following Pokorny.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is recorded from the mid-ninth century: the Old English gloss of the Vespasian Psalter renders “sicut leo rapiens” of Psalm 21 with swe swe leo reafiende & grymetiende “as a lion seizing and roaring”.^[7][8]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller divide the uses into robbing a person, robbing a person of something (with the genitive or a preposition), plundering a place, and seizing as a robber does.^[6][9] The Pastoral Care speaks of those who oðerra monna ne reafiað “do not rob other men”.^[10][8] In Beowulf warriors wæl rēafeden “plundered the slain”, and a thief comes to rob the hoard.^[11] The laws of Æthelred punish the man who robs another in daylight.^[12][6] In glosses it renders Latin spoliare, diripere and rapere.^[3]

The verb lived on as Middle English reven, first recorded in the Ormulum, and is now the archaic English reave.^[13][14] Klaeber notes that English rob comes from Old French, which took it from Germanic.^[11]

Timeline

• s. ix med. – leo reafiende “a lion seizing” in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[7][8]
• 890×897 – ne reafiað “do not rob” in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[10][8]
• s. x³/⁴ – in the Lindisfarne gloss to Mark.^[15][8]
• s. x/xi – wæl rēafeden “plundered the slain” in the Beowulf manuscript.^[16][11]

Meanings

Verb

1. to rob a person; to rob someone of something.^[6][9]
2. to plunder, lay waste, ravage a place.^[6][11]
3. to seize, carry off by force.^[6][3]

Word family

• berēafian
• ġerēafian
• ārēafian
• rēafung

Descendants

• Middle English reven (→ English reave; Scots reve; Scots refe)^[1]

Related words

• rēafere
• rēaf
• rēofan

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. rēafian
4. ^ Nerthus: An Online Lexical Database of Old English, Universidad de La Rioja, nerthusproject.com (derivational paradigms, via the Nerthus Project's open data), p. s.v. rēafian
5. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 406
6. ^ 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. 787
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. 329
8. ^ a b c d e Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
9. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 684
10. ^ 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
11. ^ 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. rēafian
12. ^ Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 181
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. 291
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. 344