þeaw

Old English

Alternative forms
  • þēaƿ

Etymology

Unknown origin, only in West Germanic, as it were from Proto-Germanic *þawwaz. Cognate with Old Frisian thāw, Old Saxon thau (“custom”). A possible Old High German reflex is *dou (“discipline, coercion, tuition”).[1]

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /θæːɑ̯w/

Noun

þēaw m (nominative plural þēawas)

  1. habit, custom
  2. (in the plural) customs, virtue

Declension
Declension of þeaw (strong a-stem)
Case Singular Plural
nominative þēaw þēawas
accusative þēaw þēawas
genitive þēawes þēawa
dative þēawe þēawum

Derived terms

Descendants

References
  1. attested as ka-dau, ka-thau; in EWAhd tentatively identified as a reflex of an s-less variant of Proto-Indo-European *(s)tāu-, *(s)te- (“to stand, place”). Köbler, Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, (6. Auflage) 2014 s.v. "dou", citing Lloyd et al. (eds.), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen (EWAhd) vol. 2 (1998), p. 741.
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