Old English · noun
gift
Normalised ġift
- Part of speech
- noun, feminine
- Declension
- strong i-stem
- IPA
- /jift/
- Syllables
- jift (1 syllable)
- Modern English
- marriageyiftgiftdowrypaymentwedding
Meaning
-
marriage payment, dowry
-
wedding, marriage
Þāðā hí noldon cuman to ðam ġiftum, ða sende hé eft, þus cweðende, "Secgað ðam gelaðodum, Efne, ic ġeġearcode mīne gōd, ic ofslóh mine fearras, and mine gemæstan fugelas, and ealle mine ðing ic ġearcode: cumað to þam ġiftum."
When they would not come to the marriage, he sent again, thus saying, "Say to those who are invited, Behold, I have prepared my meats, I have slain my oxen and my fatted fowls, and have prepared all my things: come to the marriage."
c. 992, Ælfric, "The Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost"
Declension
All forms (4)
Etymology
From Proto-West Germanic *gifti, from Proto-Germanic *giftiz. Cognate with Old Frisian jeft, Old Saxon *gift (in sundargift (“privilege”, literally “special gift”)), Dutch gift, Old High German gift (German Gift), Old Norse gipt (> English gift), Gothic (fragifts).
Descendants
gift, yift
Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gift · CC BY-SA 4.0 licence · Attribution