sceadu

Forms

sċeadu f (genitive singular sċeadwe, nominative plural sċeadwa)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *skadu, from Proto-Germanic *skaduz (“shadow”).^[1][2] Its cognates are Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌰𐌳𐌿𐍃 (skadus), Old Saxon skado and Old High German scato.^[2][3][4] Outside Germanic it is related to Ancient Greek σκότος (skótos, “darkness”) and Old Irish scáth (“shadow”).^[2][3] Kroonen sets up Proto-Indo-European *skh₃-tu- for the Germanic noun and a form with *-to-* for the Greek one;^[2][5] Köbler gives the root Proto-Indo-European *skot-.^[2][5] Holthausen and Kroonen add dialect words for “mist”: Norwegian skodde and Swedish skadda.^[4][2]

In Old English the noun is a feminine wō-stem, with the genitive ⟨sċeadwe⟩.^[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record is in the Épinal Glossary, of the late seventh century, where sceadu glosses Latin “scena”; the Erfurt Glossary has the same gloss.^[7][8] The Corpus Glossary (s. ix¹) has it as Scena scadu.^[9][10] Clark Hall takes this sense as “shady place, arbour”;^[11][12] Toller's Supplement as “scene”.^[11][12]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller begin with the shadow an object casts, as of the gnomon of a sundial and the earth's shadow that makes the night.^[13] The word is also darkness, as in the psalm phrase “umbra mortis”, rendered sceadu deaþes; shelter, as under the shadow of God's wings; and a shady place.^[13][12] Toller's Supplement adds a shadow as opposed to the reality, said of the Old Law beside Christ's teaching, and a ghost or apparition.^[12] The Old English Boethius speaks of the sceaduwa “shadows” of true happiness.^[10] In Beowulf the plural is sceadwa, and the poem has the compounds sċeadugenga and sċeaduhelm.^[6]

The oblique forms in sceadw- gave English shadow, and the nominative gave shade.^[14]

Timeline

• s. vii ex. – scena sceadu in the Épinal Glossary.^[7][8]
• s. ix¹ – Scena scadu in the Corpus Glossary.^[9][10]
• s. x¹ – of sceadwe deaðes “from the shadow of death” in the Junius Psalter gloss.^[15][10]
• s. x med. – ða sceaduwa þære soðan gesælðe in the Old English Boethius.^[16][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. a shadow cast by an object.^[13][17]
2. shade, darkness.^[13][11]
3. a shady place, an arbour; shelter, protection.^[11][17]
4. (glosses) a scene.^[12]
5. something unreal, a shadow as against the reality; an apparition.^[12]

Word family

• sċeaduġeard
• sċeadugenga
• sċeaduhelm
• sċeadwian
• scūrsċeadu

Descendants

• Middle English schade (→ English shade)^[1]
• Middle English schadwe (→ English shadow; Middle Scots schadow; Middle Scots schaddow)^[1]

Related words

• sċead

Usage notes

Holthausen lists separately a sceadu “harm” from the Vercelli Homilies.^[18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 438
3. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 331
4. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 272
5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. sceadu
6. ^ a b 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. sceadu
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. 610
8. ^ a b Pheifer, J. D. (1974), Old English Glosses in the Épinal-Erfurt Glossary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. gloss 902
9. ^ 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
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b c d Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 291
12. ^ 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. Suppl. 694
13. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 820
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. 515
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. 296
17. ^ a b Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 168
18. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 275