Old English · noun
hlæfdige
Normalised hlǣfdī̆ġe
- Part of speech
- noun, feminine
- Declension
- weak n-stem
- IPA
- /ˈxlæːfˌdiː.je/[ˈl̥æːvˌdiː.je]
- Syllables
- ˈxlæːf · ˌdiː · je (3 syllables)
- Modern English
- ladymistressvirgin marynoblewomancourteousmary
Meaning
-
a lady, the mistress of a household
-
noblewoman; queen
-
a form of courteous address; lady
Đā ġewearþ hit þæt þǣs mǣdenes fōstormōdor intō þām būre ēode, ⁊ ġeseah hī ðār sittan on miċelre ġedrēfednesse, ⁊ hire cwæð tō, "Hwiġ eart þū hlǣfdiġe swā ġedrēfedes mōdes?"
It happened that the girl's foster mother came into the room and saw her sitting full of confusion, and said to her "Lady, why are you so troubled of mind?."
The Anglo-Saxon version of the story of Apollonius of Tyre -
the Virgin Mary
Declension
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | hlǣfdī̆ġe | hlǣfdī̆ġan |
| Accusative | hlǣfdī̆ġan | hlǣfdī̆ġan |
| Genitive | hlǣfdī̆ġan | hlǣfdī̆ġena |
| Dative | hlǣfdī̆ġan | hlǣfdī̆ġum |
All forms (4)
Etymology
From hlāf (“bread”) + dǣġe (“kneader”, from Proto-Germanic *daigijǭ); compare dāg (“dough”) and hlāford. The discrepancy in vocalism between dǣġe and the second element of hlǣfdīġe is presumably due to vowel reduction (though an older theory instead postulates a Proto-Germanic ablaut variant *dīgijǭ), while that between hlāf and the first element is due to i-umlaut from the Proto-Germanic -ij- in the second element (compare ǣnēge, ǣnlīpiġ, endlufon, enwintre; the variant hlāfdīġe is due to readjustment to hlāf).
Descendants
lady
Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hlæfdige · CC BY-SA 4.0 licence · Attribution