Etymologically
Log in

spowan

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 18:29. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • /ˈspoː.wɑn/[1]

Forms

spōwan (third-person singular present spēwþ, past singular -, past plural -)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *spōan, from Proto-Germanic *spōaną (“to succeed”).[1][2] Its cognates are Middle Dutch spoen (“to strive for”) and Old High German spuon (“to succeed”), weak verbs.[2][3][4]

Kroonen takes it for an o-grade strong verb to Proto-Indo-European *speh₁- (“to succeed, prosper”); the ⟨w⟩ of the Old English verb only fills the hiatus, and the related spēd shows the colour of the laryngeal.[2] Holthausen compares Lithuanian spėti (“to have time, be quick enough”) and Latin spatium (“space”), and Köbler refers it to the root Pokorny writes Proto-Indo-European *spēi-.[5][6]

It is a strong verb of the seventh class with Northwest Germanic /oː/, like rōwan.[7] The past singular has ⟨ēo⟩.[4][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is first recorded in King Alfred's prefatory letter to the Pastoral Care in Hatton 20 (890×897), which recalls of the former kings of England hu him ða speow ægðer ge mid wige ge mid wisdome “how they then prospered both in war and in wisdom”.[9][10] The construction is the impersonal one, with the dative of the person.[4]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller separate a personal use, with the instrumental of that in which one succeeds, from the more frequent impersonal use “it succeeds with someone”, with the dative of the person and the genitive or a preposition for the thing.[4] The personal use belongs to verse (Elene, Andreas, Genesis, Christ, Guthlac); Beowulf has only the impersonal him wiht ne spēow.[4][8] In the glosses it renders Latin “proficere”, and Holthausen and Köbler add the senses “to profit, help”.[6][5]

Timeline

  • 890×897 – hu him ða speow in Alfred's letter in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).[9][10]
  • s. x in. or xi¹ – hu swiðe him speow in the Old English Bede (Tanner 10).[11][10]
  • s. x² – the personal use in Andreas and Elene in the Vercelli Book.[12][4]
  • s. x/xi – him wiht ne speow in the Beowulf manuscript and Judith.[13][4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. to succeed, be successful (with the instrumental of the thing).[4][14]
  2. (impersonal, with dative) to go well with someone, prosper.[4][8]
  3. to profit, help.[5][6]

Word family

  • ġespōwan
  • misspōwan
  • spēd
  • spēdan

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 468
  3. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 903
  5. ^ a b c Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 312
  6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. spōwan
  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 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. spōwan
  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. 499
  10. ^ a b c Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
  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. 531
  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. 704
  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
  14. ^ North, Richard; Bintley, Michael D. J., eds. (2016), Andreas: An Edition, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press (glossary), p. s.v. spōwan