alyve
Middle English
Alternative forms
- alife, a-live, alive, a-lyve, olife, olive, o-live, olyve
Etymology
From Old English on līfe; equivalent to a- + lyve (dative singular of lyf (“life”)).[1][2]
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /aˈliːv(ə)/, /ɔˈliːv(ə)/
Adjective
alyve
- alive, living
- c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.), published c. 1410, Apocalips 1:18, page 117v, column 2; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:
- […] I am alyue ⁊ I was deed / ⁊ lo I am lyuynge in to woꝛldis of woꝛldis / ⁊ I haue þe keies of deþ ⁊ of helle.
- […] I am alive, though I was dead. Now see - I will be living forever, and I have the keys to death and Hell.
-
- extant, existent
Usage notes
- Like modern English alive, alyve usually follows the noun it modifies.
Descendants
- English: alive, live
- Scots: alive, live
References
- Jespersen, Otto (1909) A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles (Sammlung germanischer Elementar- und Handbücher; 9), volume I: Sounds and Spellings, London: George Allen & Unwin, published 1961, § 6.31, page 194.
- “alīve, adv. & adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.