uder

Forms

ūder n (strong a-stem; genitive singular ūdres)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *ūdarą (“udder”).^[1][2] The noun is shared with Old Frisian ūder, Old Saxon ūder and Old High German ūtar, and, with a different consonant, Old Norse júgr.^[3][2][4][5]

Outside Germanic it matches Sanskrit ऊधर् (ū́dhar, “udder, bosom”), Ancient Greek οὖθαρ (oûthar, “udder”) and Latin ūber (“udder”).^[3][1] Wiktionary derives it from Proto-Indo-European *h₁éwHdʰr̥ (“udder”), a variant of *h₁ówHdʰr̥, and reports Kroonen's view that the Germanic noun kept the old ablaut within its paradigm.^[1] Köbler gives the root as Proto-Indo-European *ēudʰ- (Pokorny 347).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is rare in the surviving texts: the Dictionary of Old English Corpus has a single token, in an occasional gloss.^[6] Bosworth and Toller cite it from the Kentish glosses, where of udrum renders Latin uberibus “from the breasts”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Old English used it of an animal's udder and of a woman's breast.^[7][1] It lived on as Middle English udder, recorded from Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus (a1398), now English udder.^[8][5]

Timeline

• a1398 – Middle English udder in Trevisa's Bartholomaeus.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. an udder.^[7][9][10]
2. a breast.^[7][1]

Descendants

• Middle English udder (→ English udder; Scots udder; Scots uther)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. ūder
3. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 436
4. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 375
5. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
7. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 1086
8. ^ 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)
9. ^ Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 209
10. ^ Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 369