eldertongue

Old English · noun

frea

Normalised frēa

Part of speech
noun, masculine
Declension
weak
IPA
/fræ͜ɑː/
Syllables
fræ͜ɑː (1 syllable)
Modern English
lordkingchristhusband

Meaning

  1. lord, king

  2. owner

    Oft iċ beġīne þæt mē onġēan sticað, þonne iċ hnītan sċeal, hringum gyrded, hearde wið heardum, hindan þȳrel, forð āsċūfan þæt mīnes frēan mōd freoþað middelnihtum.

    Oft I swallow that pricks me again, then I should strike, girded by rings, toughly against hard ones, stabbed from behind, shove forth that shields mind-mirth of my owner at midnights.

    c. 980, Exeter Book Riddle 91:

  3. God, Christ

  4. husband

    10th century, Genesis B, line 655

    Adam, my husband, this fruit is so sweet

Declension

Declension of frea
SingularPlural
Nominative frēafrēan
Accusative frēanfrēan
Genitive frēanfrēana
Dative frēanfrēamfrēaum

All forms (5)

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic frawō, from Proto-Germanic *frawjô, from Proto-Indo-European *proHwo-, a derivation from *per- (“to go forward”). Cognate with Old Saxon frāho, Old High German frao, frō, Old Norse Freyr, Gothic (frauja), and via Proto-Indo-European with Latin prōvincia (English province).

Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · en.wiktionary.org/wiki/frea · CC BY-SA 4.0 licence · Attribution