eie

English

Noun

eie (plural eies)

1. Obsolete spelling of eye.
   • 1580, Thomas Tusser, “Augusts Husbandrie”, in Fiue Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie: , London: Henrie Denham  , →OCLC; republished as W Payne and Sidney J Herrtage, editors, Five Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie. , London: Published for the English Dialect Society by Trübner & Co., , 1878, →OCLC, stanza 9, page 129:

     Giue gloues to thy reapers, a larges to crie, / And dailie to loiterers haue a good eie.

     A reference to the historical practice of crying out (chiefly to a person of high standing on a special occasion) for a gift of money.

   • c. 1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedy of King Richard the Third.  (First Quarto), London: Valentine Sims for Andrew Wise, , published 1597, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

     We ſay that Shores wife hath a prety foote, / A cherry lippe, a bonny eie, a paſſing pleaſing tongue: / And that the Queenes kindred are made gentlefolks.

   • 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, .”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: J. M for John Starkey , →OCLC, page 42, lines 637–638:

     Under his ſpecial eie / Abſtemious I [Samson] grew up and thriv'd amain; / He led me on to mightieſt deeds / Above the nerve of mortal arm / Againſt the uncircumciſ'd, our enemies.

Afrikaans

Alternative forms

• eige (archaic)
• ye, yge (obsolete)

Etymology

From Dutch eigen, from Middle Dutch eigen, from Old Dutch *eigan.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈəi̯.ə/

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

eie (attributive eie, not comparable)

1. own (belonging to oneself)

   Jy het jou eie pen, jy hoef nie myne te gebruik nie.

   You have your own pen, you needn’t use mine.

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English ēaġe, from Proto-West Germanic *augā, from Proto-Germanic *augô, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃ókʷs.

Alternative forms

• yȝe, ye, yë, yghe, eye, eȝhe, eȝe, eighe, eyghe, eyȝe, iȝe

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛi̯(ə)/, /ˈiː(ə)/

Noun

eie (plural eien)

1. An eye.
   • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎, published c. 1410, Apocalips 1:14, page 117v; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:

     ⁊ þe heed of him ⁊ his heeris weren whiyt as whiyt wolle .· ⁊ as ſnow / ⁊ þe iȝen of him as flawme of fier .·

     And his head and his hairs were white, like white wool or snow, and his eyes were like fire's flame.

   • c. 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Nun's Priest's Tale”, in The Canterbury Tales, lines 3168–3169:

     So mote I brouke wel myne eyen tweye / Saue ye I herde neuere man so synge.

     So might I have used well my two eyes / But for you, I've heard no man sing like that.

2. (figuratively) A highly valued or regarded object.
3. Vision, knowledge or perception.
4. A hole, spot, or other object resembling an eye.

Descendants

• English: eye
  • Sranan Tongo: ai
• Geordie English: ee, eye
• Scots: ee
• Yola: ieen, eein, eyen, eeen, een, ein (plural)

Etymology 2

From Old English eġe.

Noun

eie

1. Alternative form of eye

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse eiga. Cognate with Danish eje, Swedish äga, Faroese eiga, Icelandic eiga, and English owe.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈæɪə/

Verb

eie (imperative ei, present tense eier, passive eies, simple past eide or eiet or åtte, past participle eid or eiet or ått)

1. to own (have rightful possession of)

Derived terms

• eier (noun)
• statseid

Further reading

• “eie”, in: Bjorvand & Lindeman, Våre arveord, rev. ed. Oslo, 2007.
• “eie” in The Bokmål Dictionary.