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eferþe

noun, f., n-decl., 2 occ.

Last Update: 06.05.2011 11:11

Meaning Last Update: 08.04.2008 15:09

  • A:
    -, unsolved, ungeklärt
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Comment Last Update: 06.05.2011 11:10

  • Comment on (A): -, unsolved, ungeklärt

    Pollington (2000,118) tries to link the plant name to eofor 'boar' and notices that in one spelling variant the second part links the name to →ælf-þone, indicating a winding, coiling plant. He does not propose an identification; neither does the DOE, where the OE form is regarded a spelling variant of →æferþe.

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Occurrences Last Update: 22.10.2010 13:52

  • LA, 110/16[1] asg hæferþan
  • LA, 116/2[2] asg eferþon
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Research Literature

BTC: Campbell, Alistair (ed.). An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary. Revised and Enlarged Addenda to the Supplement by T. N. Toller. London: Oxford University Press, 1972.
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 II: Bierbaumer, Peter. Der botanische Wortschatz des Altenglischen. Grazer Beiträge zur Englischen Philologie 2. Bern, Frankfurt am Main, München: Lang, 1976.
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.
LA, Lor: Grattan, John Henry Grafton, and Charles Singer. Anglo-Saxon Magic and Medicine. London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1952.
LA: Cockayne, Oswald Thomas (ed.). "[Lacnunga] Recipies." 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. 3. Rev. Ed. by Charles Singer. London: Holland Press, 1961. 2-81.
LB: Leonhardi, Günther. Kleinere angelsächsische Denkmäler I. Bibliothek der ags. Prosa VI. Hamburg: Grand, 1905.
Grein, Christian-Wilhelm-Michael (ed.). Bibliothek der angelsächsischen Poesie. Göttingen: Wigand, 1864.
MS London, British Library, Harley 585.
Pettit, Edward, (ed. and trans.). Anglo-Saxon Remedies, Charms and Prayers from British Library MS Harley 585: the 'Lacnunga'. Vol. I: Introduction, Text, Translation, and Appendices. Vol. II: Commentary and Bibliography. Mellen Critical Editions and Translations. 6A and 6B. Lewiston, Queenston and Lampeter: Mellen, 2001.
Pollington, Stephen. Leechcraft: Early English Charms, Plant Lore, and Healing. Hockwold-cum-Wilton: Anglo-Saxon Books, 2000.
[1]:

Not recorded in BT(SC); cf. BTS, s.v. æferþe. Grattan / Singer (1951,110, A.9): "hæferþan with inorganic h; the e above line and the þ corrected out of e, same hand." The plant name denotes one of many ingredients in a complex recipe, where nearly every other plant name is connected through alliteration: cf. line 14f: "clufþung 7 clate, liþwyrt 7 lambes cerse, hylwyrt, hæsel, cwice, wudurofe 7 wrættes ciþ, springwyrt, sperewyrt, wegbræde 7 wermod, ealhtran 7 hæferþan, hegecliffe 7 hymelan, gearwan 7 geaces suran"; hæferþan is intended to alliterate with ealhtran, the h- was probably taken over from hegecliffe 7 hymelan.

[2]:

Not recorded in BT(SC); cf. BTS, s.v. æferþe; cf. Grattan / Singer (1951,116, A. 2): "eferþon: possibly a dialectal form which is elsewhere written æferþon; but etymology unknown." I cannot find a form æferþon recorded anywhere.