*aiþaz

Runic: ᚨᛁᚦᚨᛉ Pronunciation: /ˈɑi̯.θɑz/

noun · masculine · a-stem

Meanings

oath

Etymology

From earlier Celto-Germanic *oito-s (‘oath’), also reflected by Proto-Celtic *oito-s, whence Old Irish óeth and Old Welsh an-udon (Kroonen 2013: s.v. *aiþa-; Matasović 2009a: 305; van Sluis et al. 2023: 219). The formation is traditionally derived as Proto-Indo-European *h₁óy-to-s, an o-grade *-to- noun from root *h₁ey-, perhaps originally ‘a going, course’; compare the morphologically parallel Ancient Greek οἶτος (oîtos), possibly from an earlier meaning of ‘course’ (Mallory & Adams 1997: 408–409; van Sluis et al. 2023: 219). Under this interpretation, ‘course, going’ developed specifically into ‘oath’ in Celtic and Germanic, perhaps through an oath-taking rite involving ceremonial movement, although that cultural explanation is speculative. Mallory and Adams (1997: 408–409) suggest that oath-takers would walk or “go” between parts of slaughtered animals to give force to an oath.

The ultimate history remains uncertain. The identical Celtic and Germanic forms may represent a shared post-Proto-Indo-European innovation, but early borrowing from Celtic into Germanic is also possible; the preservation of a more concrete meaning in the parallel Germanic formation *aidiją may favor an originally Celtic semantic development ‘course, going’ > ‘oath’ followed by borrowing into Germanic (Ringe 2017: 328; van Sluis et al. 2023: 219).

Declension

CaseSingularPlural
Nom.aiþazaiþōz, aiþōs
Acc.aiþąaiþanz
Gen.aiþas, aiþisaiþǫ̂
Dat.aiþaiaiþamaz
Inst.aiþōaiþamiz
Voc.aiþaiþōz, aiþōs

Find a form

Descendants

  • *aiþ (Proto-West Germanic)
    • *ēth (Old Dutch)
      • êet (Middle Dutch)
        • eed (Dutch)
          • eed (Afrikaans)
  • *aiþ (Proto-West Germanic)
    • āþ (Old English)
      • oth, ooth, ath (Middle English)
        • oath (English)
        • aith (Scots)
  • *aiþ (Proto-West Germanic)
    • ēth, āth (Old Frisian)
      • ith, iss (North Frisian)
      • Eed (Saterland Frisian)
      • eed (West Frisian)
  • *aiþ (Proto-West Germanic)
    • eid, aid (Old High German)
      • eit (Middle High German)
        • Eid (German)
        • Eed (Luxembourgish)
  • *aiþ (Proto-West Germanic)
    • ēth (Old Saxon)
      • êt (Middle Low German)
        • Eed (Low German)
        • Eit (Plautdietsch)
  • *ᚨᛁᚦᚨᛉ (*aiþaʀ) (Proto-Norse)
    • eiðr (Old Norse)
      • eiður (Faroese)
      • eiður (Icelandic)
      • eid (Norwegian Nynorsk)
  • *ᚨᛁᚦᚨᛉ (*aiþaʀ) (Proto-Norse)
    • eiðr (Old Norse)
      • ēþ, eth (Old Danish)
        • ed (Danish)
          • ed (Norwegian Bokmål)
  • *ᚨᛁᚦᚨᛉ (*aiþaʀ) (Proto-Norse)
    • eiðr (Old Norse)
      • ēþer (Old Swedish)
        • ed (Swedish)
  • 𐌰𐌹𐌸𐍃 (aiþs) (Gothic)

Explore/search these descendants

View on Wiktionary

Words mentioned in this entry

Entries that mention this word