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In:Sociocultural Dimensions of Lexis and Text in the History of English
Edited by Peter Petré, Hubert Cuyckens and Frauke D'hoedt
[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 343] 2018
► pp. 15–40

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Chapter 1
Old English ead in Anglo-Saxon given names

A comparative approach to Anglo-Saxon anthroponomy

Published online: 4 July 2018
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https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.343.01boi
Abstract
The Anglo-Saxon name-element ead- was the one of the most common themes used to form dithematic personal names. The overall goal of this paper is to examine the reason for this abundance in anthroponyms such as Eadbald, Eadberht, Eadred. First, the paper addresses the questions of which meaning of Old English ead (wealth, prosperity, happiness, bliss) is present in personal names, and whether there is a hidden message in these names. I look for the ancestral meaning of ead by examining the Old English poetic corpus and then establish lexical and anthroponomical parallels within continental Germanic and other Indo-European traditions: namely Old Greek and Old Slavic. The paper suggests that names formed with Germanic *aud- (etymon of OE ead-), Greek plouto-, and Slavic žir- referred to riches and abundance and were originally used within the inferior stratum of society. Originally, they would have been monothematic and reflected the parents’ desire that their progeny would have a prosperous life. Dithematic anthroponyms, then, containing the ead- element (Eadric, Eadwald, Edmund) emerged during the Heroic Age; they were a later interpretation of ancient poetic epithets describing the lord as a guardian of his people and his land.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Old English ead- and wel- and their cognates in Germanic poetry and anthroponomy
    • 2.1 Ead- in Old English poetry
    • 2.2OE wela, Old Saxon welo, OHG uuóla “riches, prosperity” in poetry and anthroponomy
    • 2.3Weland
    • 2.4Plouton
    • 2.5Greek plouto- anthroponyms
    • 2.6Germanic anthroponyms containing the wel- element: The OE compound eadwela and its Germanic cognates
    • 2.7Anthroponomical implications of the poetic use of ead
  • 3.Slavic žir
    • 3.1The lexeme for “riches” in Slavic languages
    • 3.2Slavic anthroponyms containing the žir- element
    • 3.3The lexeme žir in the Slavic languages
    • 3.4Slavic anthroponyms
  • 4.Dithematic Germanic anthroponyms containing the ead- element
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Data sources
  • References
References (66)
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