toþ

Forms

tōþ m (strong consonant stem; genitive singular tōþes, nominative plural tēþ)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *tanþ, from Proto-Germanic *tanþs (“tooth”).^[1][2] The word is found in all the old Germanic languages: Gothic 𐍄𐌿𐌽𐌸𐌿𐍃 (tunþus), Old Norse tǫnn, Old Frisian tōth, Old Saxon tand and Old High German zan.^[3][4]

Kroonen takes the Northwest Germanic stem with ⟨a⟩ and the East Germanic one with ⟨u⟩ as the two ablaut grades of one paradigm going back to Proto-Indo-European *h₃dónts, an old participle of Proto-Indo-European *h₃ed- (“to bite, be sharp”).^[3] Holthausen and Köbler likewise see a present participle of the verb for “eat”, the root of etan.^[4][5] Outside Germanic the same noun is Latin dēns, Ancient Greek ὀδών (odṓn), Old Irish dét, Lithuanian dantìs and Sanskrit दन्त (dánta).^[4][1]

The ⟨ō⟩ goes back to /an/ before the voiceless fricative ⟨þ⟩: Old English, Old Frisian and Old Saxon lost the nasal there and lengthened the vowel, which Old English then rounded, as in gōs and sōþ.^[6] The word is a consonant stem whose nominative plural ⟨tēþ⟩ has i-umlaut, beside an a-stem plural ⟨tōþas⟩.^[1][7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the gloss of the Vespasian Psalter, of the mid-ninth century: grymetadon in mec mid toðum heara “they gnashed at me with their teeth” renders “striderunt in me dentibus suis” of Psalm 34.^[9][10] The laws of Æthelberht fix a fine for each of the front teeth, but survive only in a twelfth-century copy.^[8][11]

Semantic evolution

The word means a tooth of man or beast and a tusk; in Latin glosses it renders “dens”.^[8][5] In the Orosius the walruses are hunted for the fine bone of their teeth, their tusks.^[8][1] The laws price the loss of each tooth, and the medical books treat toothache.^[11][8]

It continued as Middle English toth, plural teth, and English tooth, whose plural teeth keeps the umlaut.^[12][13]

Timeline

• s. ix med. – mid toðum heara “with their teeth” in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[9][10]
• s. x¹ – walrus tusks in the Orosius.^[14][10]
• s. x med. – teeth in Bald's Leechbook.^[15][10]
• s. x in. or xi¹ – a possessed man gnashes mid his toðum in the Old English Bede.^[16][10]
• ?a1200 – Middle English toð in the Herbarium of Apuleius.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. a tooth.^[8][5]
2. a tusk, as of a walrus.^[8][1]

Word family

• fengtōþ
• wangtōþ
• ċintōþ
• elpendtōþ
• tōþlēas
• ġetēþed

Descendants

• Middle English toth (→ English tooth; Scots tuth; Scots tuith)^[1]

Related words

• etan
• tind
• tūsc

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *tanþs
3. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 509
4. ^ a b c Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 351
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. tōþ
6. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 3.14
7. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 5.78
8. ^ a b c d e f g Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 1008
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. 329
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 Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 213
12. ^ a b 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)
13. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
14. ^ 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. 249
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. 412
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. 531