scrybb

Forms

sċrybb m^[1]

Etymology

Wiktionary takes it as inherited from Proto-West Germanic *skrubbiju, from Proto-Germanic *skrubbijō, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kerb- (“to be sharp”), an extended form of Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut”).^[1] Holthausen sets beside it North Frisian, Danish, Norwegian and West Flemish words for brushwood, dogwood and wild vetch, and Scandinavian words for rough, uneven ground, and connects the group with Middle Low German schrubben (“to scratch, scrub”) and Latin scrūpus (“sharp stone”).^[2] Köbler puts it under the verb Proto-Germanic *skrub- (“to be rough”), of unclear origin.^[3][4] Etymonline calls it a rare and late word, possibly from Scandinavian, and gives the OED's base sense “rough”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is recorded once in the Dictionary of Old English Corpus, in the boundary clause “of þare stanstræte andlang scrybbe þæt hit cymð to Acantune”, “from the paved road along the brushwood until it comes to Acton”.^[6][7] The charter, the will of Ælfflæd, is dated 1000×1002; eSawyer gives its manuscripts as of the thirteenth century, but notes that the facsimile edition dates the first one to the eleventh century.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In Old English it meant scrub, underwood, a stretch of shrubs, and it occurs in charter bounds.^[8][9] A Middle English charter in Bosworth and Toller's Supplement names a road “bitwiene þe shrubbes”.^[10] It survived as Middle English shrubbe, now shrub.^[5]

Timeline

• 1000×1002 – andlang scrybbe “along the brushwood” in the bounds of Ælfflæd's will, in a copy dated to the eleventh century.^[6][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. scrub, underwood, brushwood.^[8][2][3]

Descendants

• Middle English schrub (→ English shrub)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 284
3. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. scrybb
4. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
5. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c 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 1486
7. ^ a b Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
8. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 843
9. ^ LangScape: The Language of Landscape: Reading the Anglo-Saxon Countryside, King's College London, langscape.org.uk
10. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 699