On 2008-02-03 18:47, squilluncus wrote:
> Both strive and strife first seen in the beginning of the 13th
> century. No traces before?
No, none. <stri:ven> is found since the very beginning of the 13th c.
(ca. 1200-1230). The earliest examples of use come from the oldest
manuscript of the Ancrene Riwle [Guide for Anchoresses] (unfortunately I
haven't got any of the Anglo-Norman versions to hand to check which
French verb was so translated) and the Dialogue on Vices and Virtues. By
1300 it was frequently used by numerous writers, the strong preterite
(stra:f, stro:ve, pl. striven, stro:ven) and p.p. (striven) coexisting
with their weak counterparts (stri:vede, stri:veden, (i)stri:ved). The
noun <stri:f(e)> is of the same age. Both <estriver> and <estr(e)if,
strif(f)> are well attested in Anglo-Norman French since ca. 1150.
BTW, if the deverbal noun were inherited, one would predict OE *stra:f
(with /a:/ from PGmc. *ai, similar to dra:f 'drove, herd', ra:d 'road')
rather than *stri:f. The actually attested word does look like a loan.
Piotr