siþþan

Forms

siþþan^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Old English sīþ (“later”) + þon (“than that”), from an unrecorded phrase meaning “later than that”, contracted, with the long vowel shortened.^[1][2] Bosworth and Toller derive it from sīþ with the dative ðam, and compare German seitdem.^[3] Köbler lists the adverb and the conjunction under the comparative adverb sīþ.^[4]

Early West Saxon writes ⟨siððan⟩, late West Saxon ⟨syþþan⟩;^[5] Kentish texts also have ⟨seoððan⟩ and ⟨sioððan⟩ with back umlaut, beside ⟨siððan⟩ in the Kentish charters S 1195 and S 1200.^[5] The MED lists Mercian ⟨seoððan⟩ and a shortened Northumbrian ⟨soðða⟩.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in a Kentish charter of about 850 (S 1195), held to be a contemporary original: Ealhburg asks her kinsman Eadweald to keep the render his dei & siððan forð bebeode his erbum to healdenne, “in his day, and afterwards to bid his heirs keep it”.^[7][8]

Semantic evolution

As an adverb it means “afterwards, then, from then on”, and with ā or ǣfre “ever after”; as a conjunction it means “after, since, when, as soon as”, sometimes shading into “because”.^[3][2] Clauses can be paired, siþþan … siþþan “when … then”, as in the Old English Orosius.^[9] In the laws it means “henceforth” and introduces the main clause after a conditional one.^[10] It glosses Latin postquam, deinde and dehinc.^[4]

It became Middle English sitthen, now dialectal English sithen, and with an added -s Middle English sitthens, the source of English since.^[6][1]

Timeline

• c. 850 – siððan forð “afterwards” in the Kentish charter S 1195, a contemporary single sheet.^[7][8]
• 890×897 – in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[11][8]
• s. ix/x – in the Parker Chronicle (CCCC 173).^[12][8]
• s. x/xi – both adverb and conjunction, more than seventy times, in the Beowulf manuscript.^[13][2]
• a1200 – Middle English siðen “since” in the Trinity Homilies.^[6]

Meanings

Adverb

1. afterwards, then, thereupon.^[3][2]
2. from then on, henceforth.^[10][4]

Conjunction

1. after, since, from the time when.^[3][2]
2. when, as soon as.^[2][4]

Descendants

• Middle English sitthen (→ English sithen; Scots syne)^[1]
• Middle English sitthens (→ English sithence; English sithens)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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. siððan
3. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 879
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. siþþan
5. ^ a b Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 5.104
6. ^ a b c 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)
7. ^ a b 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 1195
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 704
10. ^ a b Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 198
11. ^ 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
12. ^ 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. 83
13. ^ 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