suþ

Forms

sūþ (comparative sūþra, superlative sūþmest)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *sunþ, beside *sunþr, from Proto-Germanic *sunþrą (“south”).^[1] Köbler sets up a Germanic adjective Proto-Germanic *sunþaz (“southward”), continued by Old Norse suðr and by this word, and connects it with Proto-Indo-European *sun- (“sun”) (Pokorny 881).^[2][3] Wiktionary derives the Germanic word from Proto-Indo-European *sh₂ún-teros, the word for the sun with a suffix of direction.^[1] Etymonline gives the same link with the word for the sun, and the literal sense “sun-side” as a possibility.^[4]

Bosworth and Toller note that the Old High German compounds in sund- and the Old Norse ones in sunn- show the ⟨n⟩ lost in the English word.^[5] Like the other points of the compass, it forms its comparative and superlative without umlaut (sūþra, sūþmest), with only an occasional umlauted form such as sȳþeran.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in the will of Abba the reeve, from Kent (833×839), which survives in a single sheet held to be contemporary: if his widow would rather enter a minster oðða suð to faranne, “or travel south”, two of his kinsmen are to pay her two thousand and take the land.^[7][8] The English bounds endorsed on the original record of the synod of 824 at Clofesho run Ðanon suð up be ea, “from there south up along the river”.^[9][8]

Semantic evolution

As an adverb it means southward or in the south, and it often goes with the other points of the compass: Bede's Britain is twelve miles wide súð and norð, and in Beowulf no better man was to be found sūð ne norð.^[5][10] As an adjective it is mostly found in the comparative and superlative, súðra and súðmest, for the southern road, the southern solstice or the southernmost Ethiopians.^[5] Many place-names in the charters have it as their first part.^[5] The Lindisfarne gloss uses suða for Latin “auster”, the south.^[8]

It continued as Middle English south, where the noun “the south” and the phrase bi south are recorded, and is now English south.^[11][1]

Timeline

• 833×839 – suð to faranne “to travel south” in the will of Abba, in a contemporary single sheet.^[7][8]
• s. ix – Ðanon suð up be ea in the English bounds endorsed on the record of the synod of 824.^[9][8]
• s. x³/⁴ – suða for “austro” in the Lindisfarne Gospels gloss.^[12][8]
• s. x/xi – sūð ne norð in the Beowulf manuscript.^[10]

Meanings

Adverb

1. south, southward, in or towards the south.^[5][10]

Adjective

1. southern; mostly in the comparative sūþerra and superlative sūþmest.^[5][2]

Word family

• sūþan
• sūþerne
• sūþeweard
• sūþdǣl
• sūþēast
• sūþwest

Descendants

• Middle English south (→ English south; Scots sooth)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. sūþ
3. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
4. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ 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. 938
6. ^ Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 4.74
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 1482
8. ^ a b c d e f Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
9. ^ 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 1434
10. ^ 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. sūð
11. ^ 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)
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. 291