wif

Forms

wīf n (strong a-stem; genitive singular wīfes)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *wīb, from Proto-Germanic *wībą (“woman, wife”).^[1][2] The word is common to North and West Germanic: Old Norse víf, Old Frisian wīf, Old Saxon wīf and Old High German wīb;^[2][3][4] no Gothic form is recorded.^[2][3][4]

Its origin is unknown.^[2][3] Some scholars connect it with Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐍅𐌰𐌹𐌱𐌾𐌰𐌽 (biwaibjan) and wǣfan (“to wrap, clothe”), as if the first sense were “veiled woman”;^[2] Kroonen finds a link with Tocharian A kip and Tocharian B kwīpe “shame, modesty” possible.^[2] Köbler puts a question mark against a connection with the root Proto-Indo-European *weyp- (“to turn, swing”).^[5]

Proto-West Germanic /b/ became /f/ at the end of the word, so that *wīb gave wīf;^[6] Ringe and Taylor note an archaic spelling ⟨wiib⟩ in a ninth-century charter.^[6] It is a neuter noun of the a-stems, with no ending in the nominative plural.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record is the will of Abba, a Kentish reeve, dated 833×839 and surviving as a single sheet held to be contemporary: þonne is min willa þæt hit hæbbe min wiif ða hwile ðe hia hit mid clennisse gehaldan wile “then it is my wish that my wife should have it as long as she will keep it in chastity”.^[9][10] Here the word already means “wife”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller give three senses: a woman, a being in the shape of a woman (Grendel's mother is wīf unhȳre “a monstrous woman”), and a married woman.^[11] In the glosses it renders Latin “mulier”, “femina” and “uxor”.^[5][11] In Beowulf it means “woman, lady”.^[12] In the laws it is a woman in general and a concubine as well as a wife.^[13]

The word lived on as Middle English wyf, now English wife.^[1][14]

Timeline

• 833×839 – min wiif “my wife” in the will of Abba, a contemporary single sheet.^[9][10]
• 845×853 – mines wifes “of my wife” in the will of Badanoth Beotting, also a contemporary sheet.^[15][10]
• 890×897 – in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[16][10]
• s. x/xi – wīf unhȳre, Grendel's mother, in the Beowulf manuscript.^[17][11]

Meanings

Noun

1. a woman, a female person.^[11][14][5]
2. a being in the form of a woman, as Grendel's mother.^[11]
3. a married woman, a wife.^[11][18]

Word family

• wīfcynn
• wīffrēond
• wīfhād
• wīfhand
• wīfian
• wīflāc
• wīflēas
• wīflīċ
• wīfmann
• wīfsċrūd

Descendants

• Middle English wyf (→ English wife; Scots wife)^[1]

Usage notes

The noun is neuter: the article and adjectives before it are neuter, while a pronoun that refers back to it is feminine.^[13] Holthausen and Köbler also list a rare neuter wif “web; fate”, which belongs with wefan (“to weave”).^[4][19]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 584
3. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 464
4. ^ a b c Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 395
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wīf
6. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 297
7. ^ Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 2.12
8. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 378
9. ^ a b c 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
10. ^ 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
11. ^ 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. 1217
12. ^ 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. wīf
13. ^ a b Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 243
14. ^ a b Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 408
15. ^ 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 1510
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. 499
17. ^ 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
18. ^ Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 228
19. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wif 1