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Morus_nigra_bd2_tafel_023

byrig

noun, n., a-decl., 7 occ.

Type: plant

Last Update: 22.03.2012 09:03

Old-English: berig, byrig, berig-,

Latin (Machine generated): MOROS, MORUS,

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Reference Last Update: 21.11.2022 19:58

Meaning Last Update: 21.04.2011 18:45

  • A: plant: foreign
    Morus nigra L., black mulberry, Schwarzer Maulbeerbaum
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Comment Last Update: 22.03.2012 09:08

  • Comment on (A): Morus nigra L., black mulberry, Schwarzer Maulbeerbaum

    In the DOE recorded s.v. berie. Referreing especially to LB 69/22 we have to note that byrig is not simply a synonymous variant of berie 'berry, Beere'. The dictionaries deal with this form inconsequently: The compound →byrig-berie is translated as 'mulberry' in BT and ClH; the simplex byrig is recorded in BTS ('a mulberry tree'?) but not in ClH(S). The variant berig used in the compound →berie-drenc 'medical drink made of mulberries, medizinisches Getränk aus Maulbeeren' (BT and ClH, s.v.) is not recorded as simplex but associated with berie in BT: "add: a strong acc. pl. berig occurs Ps.Roy. lxxvii,52 [sic] (Ps.Spl. byrig)"; ClH: "berig I.n. berry, RPs7747". Also cf. note to Ps(D), 77,47. In the psalter MOROS[1] distinctly denotes 'mulberry trees, Maulbeerbäume'[2], therefore the glosses: marbeamas (A,C), murbeamas (B), morbeamas (I); cf. s.v. →mōr-beam.

    Etymology: Origin according to Holthausen (1974, s.v.) not clear. As Hoops (1905,609) has shown the mulberry tree was introduced to England not before 900, therefore byrig must have denoted another plant: the bramble (cf. Krogman 1939,70). Obviously we can relate OE byrig like other names for bramble (→brēmel, →brēr) to the IE root *bher- 'pointy, spitz', that is also the root for the goth. tree name bairabagms, which like byrig also denotes the mulberry tree (cf. Krogman 1939,69). OE byrig would then be a zero grade to this root.

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Occurrences Last Update: 14.07.2009 10:11

  • D 29, Ker, Nr.371, b MORUS by[3]
  • LB, 69/22 gpl byrigbergena
  • LB, 82/34[4] nasg byrigeolonan
  • Ps(D)[5], 77,47 MOROS berig
  • Ps(E), 77,47 MOROS byrig
  • Ps(F), 77,47 MOROS byrig
  • Ps(H), 77,47 MOROS berig
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Etymology Last Update: 22.03.2012 09:03

  • Etymology: Etymology-Comment:
  • Word-Formation:
  • Word-Formation-Comment:
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Image Last Update: 22.03.2012 09:03

Morus nigra L., black mulberry, Schwarzer Maulbeerbaum
Morus_nigra_bd2_tafel_023

Botanical-Information: stylised plate

Source: →reference-information

Thomé, Otto Wilhelm. Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz. In 4 Mappen ; 531 Tafeln in naturgetreuen Farben mit 668 Pflanzenarten. Leipzip: Teubner, 1938.

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Research Literature

BTS: Toller, Thomas Northcote. An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary. Nachdruck der Ausgabe von: Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1921. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972.
BT: Bosworth, Joseph. An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary. Ed. by Thomas Northcote Toller. Reprint 1973. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882.
BW I: Bierbaumer, Peter. Der botanische Wortschatz des Altenglischen. Grazer Beiträge zur Englischen Philologie 1. Bern, Frankfurt am Main: Lang, 1975.
BW III: Bierbaumer, Peter. Der botanische Wortschatz des Altenglischen. Grazer Beiträge zur Englischen Philologie 3. Frankfurt am Main, Bern, Las Vegas: Lang, 1979.
ClH: Clark Hall, John Richard. A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary. 4th ed. MART 14. Cambridge: University Press, 1960.
DOE: Cameron, Angus, Ashley Crandell Amos, Antonette di Paolo Healey, et al. (eds.). Dictionary of Old English (A to G). CD-Rom. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies for the Dictionary of Old English Project, 2008.
LB: Cockayne, Oswald Thomas (ed.). "Leech Book." In: Leechdoms, Wortcunning and Starcraft of Early England. Being a Collection of Documents, for the Most Part never before Printed, Illustrating the History of Sience in this Country before the Norman Conquest. Vol. 2. Rev. Ed. by Charles Singer. London: Longman [et. al.], 1961. 1-360.
LB: Leonhardi, Günther. Kleinere angelsächsische Denkmäler I. Bibliothek der ags. Prosa VI. Hamburg: Grand, 1905.
PS (E), PsCa (E): Harsley, Fred. Eadwine's Canterbury Psalter. Unaltered reprint London, Trübner, 1889. Early English Text Society. Woodbridge, Suffolk u.a.: Boydell & Brewer, 2000.
Ps (F): Kimmens, Andrew. An Edition of British Museum MS Stow 2: The Stowe Psalter. Diss Princeton U. 1969.
Ps (H): Campbell, A. P. (ed.). The Tiberius Psalter. Ottawa Medieval Texts and Studies. 2. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 1974.
Deegan, Marilyn. A Critical Edition of MS. B.L. Royal 12.D.XVII: Bald's 'Leechbook'. Diss. Univ. of Manchester. 1988.
Ker, Neil Ripley. Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon. First published 1957. Re-issued. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990.
Krogmann, Willy. "Altenglisches." Anglia 63 (1939): 67-72.
Liles, Bruce Lynn. The Canterbury Psalter: An Edition with Notes and Glossary. Diss Stanford U. Stanford: 1967.
MS London, British Library, Royal 12 D.xvii.
MS Cambridge, Trinity College, R.17.1.
MS London, British Library, Cotton Tiberius C.vi.
MS London, British Library, Stowe 2.
MS Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, Nouv.Acq.Lat. 586.
Wright, Cyril E. (ed.). Bald's Leechbook. Early English manuscripts in facsimile. 5. Kopenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger, 1955.
[1]:

"mulbery, Maulbeere" = L MORUM; cf. MORA, s.v. berie.

[2]:

Cont.: OCCIDIT IN GRANDINE UINEAS EORUM ET MOROS EORUM IN PRUINA (text taken from D). Also cf. Krogmann (1939,69-71).

[3]:

"Read byrig."

[4]:

Read byrig, eolonan; Leonhardi takes over Cockayne"s reading (C. translates "borough helenium"), a form which he corrected in the glossary in vol. 3 (1961,III, 314).

[5]:

It seems that Roeder (note to D) misinterprets berig; it is not a variant of berie "berry, Beere" but a (kentish?) variant of byrig "mulberry, Maulbeerbaum". The glosses berigan (G) and berian (K) seem to result from a similar mistake.