Bosworth Toller's

Anglo-Saxon

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frum-sceaft

  • noun [ masculinefeminine ]
Dictionary links
Grammar
frum-sceaft, e; f.Substitute: es; m. (where the gender is marked it is masculine.
Similar entries
Cf. too þone fruman sceaft (v. frum), geó-sceaft grimne),
and add:
a first shaping, birth
Show examples

  • 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.
the first shaping of the world, the creation
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  • 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.
]
Entry information
Citation

Bosworth, Joseph. “frum-sceaft.” 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/46543.

Checked: 2
Full form

Word-wheel

  • frum-sceaft, n.

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