rowan

Forms

rōwan (third-person singular present rōweþ, past singular rēow, past plural rēowon)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *rōan, from Proto-Germanic *rōaną (“to row”).^[1][2] The verb is shared with Old Norse róa, Middle Dutch roeyen (now Dutch roeien) and Middle High German rüejen.^[2][3][4]

Kroonen explains it as an o-grade intensive verb to the root Proto-Indo-European *h₁reh₁- (“to row”);^[2][3] Orel sets it beside Old Irish raid (“rows”) and Lithuanian ìrti (“to row”).^[2][3] Holthausen and Köbler add Latin rēmus (“oar”) and refer the group to the root Pokorny writes Proto-Indo-European *erə-.^[5][6] Holthausen counts rōþor “oar” among its Old English relatives.^[5]

It is a strong verb of the seventh class with Northwest Germanic /oː/ in the present, like spōwan and blōwan.^[7] The past has ⟨ēo⟩, and the poem Beowulf has a contracted plural.^[8][8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Maxims I in the Exeter Book (s. x²) has Wérig sceal se wið winde róweþ “weary shall be he who rows against the wind”.^[10][8] The Lindisfarne gloss, added in the third quarter of the century, has ðona gehrewun ða to londe “then they rowed to the land” for the Latin “enauigauerunt” of Luke 8.26, with the Northumbrian ⟨h⟩ before ⟨r⟩.^[11][12]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller define the verb as going by water, rowing or sailing;^[8][6] Latin “navigare” is what it glosses in Ælfric's Grammar and Colloquy.^[8][6] In the Gospels it renders “navigare” where the disciples cross the lake, and Ælfric uses it of journeys by ship.^[8][13] In Beowulf it means to swim: Beowulf and Breca on sund rēon “swam in the sea”.^[9][8] Holthausen and Köbler also give “to swim”.^[5][6]

It lived on as Middle English rowen, now English row.^[1]

Timeline

• s. x² – se wið winde róweþ in Maxims I in the Exeter Book.^[10][8]
• s. x³/⁴ – gehrewun for “enauigauerunt” in the Lindisfarne gloss of Luke.^[11][12]
• s. x ex. – on tó rówenne in Ælfric's Catholic Homilies I.^[14][8]
• s. x/xi – on sund rēon “swam in the sea” in the Beowulf manuscript.^[15][9]
• s. xi in. – reów of a sea journey in Ælfric's Lives of Saints.^[16][13]

Meanings

Verb

1. to row (a boat).^[8][17]
2. to go by water, sail.^[8][6]
3. (poetic) to swim.^[9][5]

Word family

• berōwan
• oferrōwan
• oþrōwan
• ġerōwan

Descendants

• Middle English rowen (→ English row; Scots row)^[1]

Related words

• rōþor

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 414
3. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 306
4. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
5. ^ a b c d Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 264
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. rōwan
7. ^ Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 6.76
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 803
9. ^ 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. rōwan
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. 223
11. ^ 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. 291
12. ^ a b Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
13. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 690
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. 407
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. 344
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. 282
17. ^ Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 164