oþ

See also: -oþ and oþ-

Old English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /oθ/

Preposition

ōþ

1. (with accusative) until, as far as, up to, down to

   fram þām ēagþyrle ōþ þone weall

   from the window to the wall

   þrītiġ ōþ fīftiġ wildra swīna

   thirty to fifty feral hogs

   • late 10th century, Ælfric, "Saint Sebastian, Martyr"

     ...ac hi þurhwunodon swa þeah on þam gewinne oð deað.

     ...but they nevertheless continued in that warfare till death.

   • c. 995, Ælfric, Extracts on Grammar in English

     Hē behȳdde þæt sweord ōþ þā hiltan.

     He concealed the sword up to the hilt.

   • late 10th century, Ælfric, the Old English Hexateuch, Genesis 32:24

     Ān enġel wraxlode wiþ hine ōþ morgen.

     An angel wrestled with him until morning.

   • c. 990, Wessex Gospels, Matthew 24:38-39

     On þǣm dagum ǣr þǣm flōde wǣron menn etende and drincende, and wīfiġende and ġifte sellende, ōþ þone dæġ þe Nōe on þā earċe ēode, and hīe nysson ǣr sē flōd cōm and nam hīe ealle.

     In the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they didn't know until the flood came and took them all.

2. (with dative) until
   • c. 992, Ælfric, "The Nativity of St. Clement the Martyr"

     Eft he cwæð, "Ic beo mid eow eallum dagum, ōð þisre worulde geendunge," seðe lyfað and rixað mid þam Ælmihtigan Fæder and ðam Halgum Gaste á on ecnysse. Amen.

     Again he said, "I will be with you on all days, until the ending of this world," who liveth and reigneth with the Almighty Father and the Holy Ghost ever to eternity. Amen.

Conjunction

ōþ

1. (often with þæt) until
   • late 10th century, Ælfric, "On the Festival of Saint Peter the Apostle"

     Hīe ēodon forþ ōþ þæt hīe cōmon tō ānum wīċe.

     They kept walking until they came to a street.

   • late 10th century, Ælfric, "The Seven Sleepers"

     Sege us nu hwǣr se ealda hord sy þe þu digelice fundest and hine eall oþ nu bedyrndest...

     Tell us now where the old treasure is which thou hast secretly found, and concealed it all until now?

Derived terms

• oþ dēaþ ondrǣdan