Bosworth Toller's

Anglo-Saxon

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frum-sceaft

  • noun [ masculinefeminine ]
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Grammar
frum-sceaft, e; f.
Substitute: and add:
a first shaping, birth
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  • Þé wǽre sélre . . . þǽr þú wurde ǽt frymþe (frumsceafte, v. l.) fugel . . . þonne þú ǽfre on moldan man gewurde

    it had been better for thee . . . if thou hadst been born a bird . . . than that thou shouldst have been ever a man on earth,

      Seel. 79.
  • Þá þe hine æt frumsceafte forð onsendon ǽnne ofer ýðe umbor wesende, B. 45. (1 a)

    the first shaping of the world, the creation

    :-- Tunglu him healdad betwuh sibbe . . . swá hí gewenede wuldres ealdor æt frumsceafte (cf. þá ealdan sibbe ðe hí on gesceapne wǽron,
      Bt. 39, 13; F. 232, 26), Met. 29, 7: Rä. 4, 14: An. 798.
  • Seó forme bóc,

    Genesis, beféhð þás racu fram frumsceafte, Ælfc. T. Grn. 3, 19.
origin
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  • Eálá gé eorþlican men, hwæt gé þeáh magon hwæthwego ongitan swelce eów mǽte be eówrum frumsceafte, ꝥ is God

    vos o terrena animalia, tenui licet imagine, vestrum tamen principium somniatis,

      Bt. 26, 1; F. 90, 4.
original constitution or
condition
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  • Clǽne wæs þeós eorðe on hyre frumsceafte, ac wé hí habbað syððan áfýlede,

      Wlfst. 92, 4.
  • Geworhte hé týn engla werod . . . on micelre fægernisse, fela þúsenda, on þám frumsceafta þæt hí . . . hine wurðedon ealle líchamleáse, leóhte and strange, búton synnum on gesǽlðe libbende, swá wlitiges gecindes swá wé secgan ne magon,

      Ælfc. T. Grn. 2, 25.
Etymology
[v. N. E. D. frumschaft.]
Similar entries
Cf. too þone fruman sceaft (v. frum), geó-sceaft grimne),
Full form

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  • frum-sceaft, n.