heahfore

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Old English

Alternative forms

Etymology

This first element of this word is customarily identified with hēah (“tall, high”), beginning with Franciscus Junius's 17th-century Etymologicum Anglicanum;[1][2] the remainder is now usually held to be from either faru (“journey”) or fearr (“bull”), though the latter is less likely.[3][4]

Discussion of Liberman's alternative etymology

Liberman instead suggests that this compound is from *hæg- (“pen”, see haga) + -fore (“inhabitant”),[5] However, this etymology fails to explain the phonological shape of this word (a long vowel is required by Middle English forms in /ɛː/, while *hæg should become palatalised *hæġ, which would stymie breaking of /æ/ and devoicing of <h> /x/. Additionally, this palatalisation would create an open syllable, resulting in /f/ being voiced to /v/), while his putative suffix -fore lacks a clear etymology and is not securely attested (elver is simply Middle English el (“eel”) +‎ fare (“group of journeyers”); the word originally referred to a group of young eels). Furthermore, Liberman's semantic objections to the traditional etymology do not hold water. Old English hēah can mean "tall", and faran already means "to live (in a specified way)"; the word would simply mean "one who lives (while being) tall", originally being a generic term for any adult cow.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈxæ͜ɑːx.fo.re/,

Noun

hēahfore f

  1. heifer

Declension

Declension of hēahfore (weak)
Case Singular Plural
nominative hēahfore hēahforan
accusative hēahforan hēahforan
genitive hēahforan hēahforena
dative hēahforan hēahforum

Descendants

References

  1. ^ Franciſcus Junius Franciſcus filius (a. 1677) “Haifer”, in Edwardus Lye, editor, Etymologicum Anglicanum, Oxonia: Theatrum Sheldonianum, published 1743, page 249
  2. ^ Alan Brown (1972) “Heifer”, in Neophilologus, volume 56, number 1, →DOI, pages 79–85
  3. ^ James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Heifer”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume V (H–K), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 195, column 1.
  4. ^ “heifer”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
  5. ^ Anatoly Liberman (2008) “heifer”, in An Analytic Dictionary of English Etymology: An Introduction, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, pages 101-5.
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