Bosworth Toller's

Anglo-Saxon

Dictionary online

hweorfa

  • noun [ masculine ]
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Grammar
hweorfa, an; m.
Something which turns, a joint, a whorl [of a spindle]
Show examples
  • Hweorfa

    vertuba,

    • Wrt. Voc. 65, 16.
  • Hwerfa

    vertigo,

    • Ælfc. Gl. 74
    • ;
    • Som. 71. 49
    • ;
    • Wrt. Voc. 44, 32
    [in both cases the words occur among names of parts of the body — the two following are found among words connected with spinning].
  • Hweorfa

    verticillum,

    • Wrt. Voc. 66, 16:
  • vertelum,

    • 281, 72.
  • Nim ðone hweorfan ðe wíf mid spinnaþ bind on his sweoran

    take the whorl that women spin with, bind it on his neck,

    • L. M. 3, 6
    • ;
    • Lchdm. ii. 310, 21
    • .
Etymology
[
Halliwell quotes Kennett's description of whorle, 'the piece of wood put upon the iron spindle to receive the thread.'
Cf. O. H. Ger. hwerbo vortex, vorago.
]
Similar entries
v. þeóh-hweorfa.
Linked entries
v.  hweorf hweorf-bán hwerfa.
Full form

Word-wheel

  • hweorfa, n.