Bosworth Toller's

Anglo-Saxon

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CYFES

  • noun [ feminine ]
Dictionary links
Grammar
CYFES, cyfys, cifes, ciefes,e; f: cyfese, an; f.
A concubine, handmaid; concubina, pellex, ancilla
Show examples

  • Cyfes

    pellex,

    • Wrt. Voc. 86,
      • 73.

  • Of cifise

    ex pellĭce,

    Mone
    • B. 4553
      • .

  • Se ðe hæbbe riht wíf, and eác cifese [MS. A. ceafese; B. cefese] ne dó him nán preóst nán ðara gerihta, ðe man cristenum men dón sceal

    he who has a right wife, and also a concubine, let no priest do for him any of those rites, which ought to be done for a christian man,

    • L. C. S. 55
      • ;
    • Th. i. 406, 16, and note 26
      • .

  • Cyfys [ = cyfes] oððe bepǽcystre [MSS. C. D. bepæcestre]

    pellex,

    • Ælfc. Gr. 28,
      • 5;
    • Som. 32,
      • 1.

  • Constantius gesealde his suna ðæt ríce, Constantinuse, ðone he hæfde be Elenan his ciefese

    Constantius gave the empire to Constantine, his son, whom he had by Helena his concubine [wife,

    v. notes to
    • Ors. Bos. p. 28, col. 2
      • ,
    • Ors. 6,
      • 30;
    • Bos. 126,
      • 41.
    >

  • Gif he cyfesan hæbbe, and náne riht ǽwe, he áh ðæs to dónne swá him geþincþ; wíte he ðeáh ðæt he beó on ánre gehealden, beó hit cyfes, beó hit ǽwe

    si concubinam habeat, et nullam legitimam uxorem, erit ei proinde quod ipsi videbitur faciendum; sciat tamen ut cum una ei manendum sit, sit concubina, sit uxor,

    • L. Ecg. P. ii. 9
      • ;
    • Th. ii. 186, 2-5: L. M. I. P. 17
      • ;
    • Th. ii. 270, 6, 9: Boutr. Scrd. 22,
      • 22.

  • Be ðínre cyfese

    super ancilla tua,

    • Gen. 21,
      • 12.
Etymology
[
Laym. chevese, chivese a concubine:
Plat. keves:
Dut. kevis, f. a concubine:
Kil. kevisse, kiese pellaca, concubina:
Ger. kebse, f. concubina, pellex:
M. H. Ger. kebes, kebese, kebse, f. concubina:
O. H. Ger. kebis, kebisa, f. pellex, concubina:
Icel. Vigf. kefsir , m. concubitor, concubinus:
O. Nrs. Rask Hald. képsi, kéffir servus molestus, oblocutor
.]
Linked entries
v.  cyfys ceafes cefes ciefes cifes.
Entry information
Citation

Bosworth, Joseph. “CYFES.” In An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary Online, edited by Thomas Northcote Toller, Christ Sean, and Ondřej Tichy. Prague: Faculty of Arts, Charles University, 2014. https://bosworthtoller.com/7060.

Checked: 1
Full form

Word-wheel

  • CYFES, n.

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