Table 1

The languages of the West Germanic sub­group had a number of words which must have appeared after the loss of contacts with the East and North Teutons but before the West Ger­manic tribes started on their migrations.

The third etymological layer of native words can be defined as specifically OE, that is words which do not occur in other Germanic or non-Germanic languages. These words are few, if we include here only the words whose roots have not been found outside English: OE clipian 'call', OE brid (NE bird) and several others. However, they are far more numerous if we include in this layer OE compounds and derived words formed from Germanic roots in England. For instance, OE wīfman or wimman (NE woman) consists of two roots which occurred as separate words in other OG languages, but formed a compound only in OE (cf. OHG wīb_t Ο Icel víf, NE wife; OE man, Gt mann(a), NE man). Other well-known examples are ─ OE hlāford, originally made of hlāf (NE loaf, cf. R хлеб) and weard ‘keeper’ (cf. Gt wards). This compound word was simplified and was ultimately shortened to NE lord. OE hl ǽ fdiʒe was a compound consisting of the same first component hlāf of the root *diʒe which is related to parallels in other OG languages: Gt digan, Ο Icel deigja 'knead' ─ lit. 'bread-kneading', later simplified to NE lady. Some compounds denoted posts and institutions in OE king­doms: OE scīrʒerefa ‘chief of the shire’ (NE sheriff), OE witena emōt ‘ meeting of the elders, assembly’.

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