Bosworth Toller's

Anglo-Saxon

Dictionary online

gift

  • noun [ feminineneuter ]
Dictionary links
Grammar
gift, gyft, e; f.
Wright's OE grammar
§96; §225; §240; §295; §316; §563;
a gift; as a technical term, the amount to be given by a suitor in consideration of receiving a woman to wife
Show examples
  • Gif mon wíf gebycgge and sió gyft forþ ne cume

    if a man buy a wife and the sum agreed upon be not forthcoming,

    • L. In. 31
    • ;
    • Th. i. 122, 5
    • .
  • See the note. That matrimony in the olden times was a bargain may be seen by the words used in connection with it, e.g. gebycgan, in the passage above; see also ge-ceápian, ceáp. For an account of such a bargaining see
    • Njál Saga, c. 2.
    • See also
    • Th. i. 254-6, Cl.
    • and
    • Vig. Icel. Dict. mundr
    • , and
    • Grmm. R. A. pp. 419 sqq.
Grammar
gift, in pl. f. and n. gifta, giftu
marriage; nuptiæ
Show examples
  • Giftu

    nuptiæ

    ,
    • Ælfc. Gr. 13
    • ;
    • Som. 16, 22
    • :
    • 28, 4
    • ;
    • Som. 31, 20
    • :
    • Mone Gl. 433 a
    • .
  • On ðam þriddan dæge wǽron gifta gewordene

    die tertia nuptiæ factæ sunt,

    • Jn. Bos. 2, 1
    • :
    • Mt. Bos. 22, 3
    • .
  • Crist wearþ to his gyftum gelaðod

    Christ was invited to his marriage,

    • Homl. Th. i. 58, 10, 11
    • :
    • Hy. 10, 17
    • ;
    • Hy. Grn. ii. 293, 17
    • .
  • Æt ðǽm giftan sceal mæsse-preóst beón

    at the nuptials there shall be a mass-priest,

    • L. Edm. 13, 8
    • ;
    • Th. i. 256, 6
    • .
  • Wífigende and gyfta syllende

    nubentes et nubtum tradentes,

    • Mt. Bos. 24, 38
    • :
    • Lk. Bos. 20, 34
    • .
  • Gifta dón hearm getácnaþ

    to keep a wedding betokens harm,

    • Lchdm. iii. 208, 21
    • :
    • L. Alf. 12
    • ;
    • Th. i. 46, 17
    • .
Etymology
[
Laym. Piers P. ȝift gift
:
O. Frs. jeft
:
O. H. Ger. gift gift
:
Goth. fra-gifts espousal
:
Icel. gipt a gift, wedding.
]
Linked entries
v.  a-gift giftu gyfl gyft hand-gift.
Full form

Word-wheel

  • gift, n.