lareow

Middle English

Noun

lareow

1. Alternative form of larew

Old English

Alternative forms

• hlārēow — erroneous
• lāruw, lāruu, lāreu — Mercian

Etymology

From lār (“teaching; doctrine”) +‎ *ēow, a word or suffix of uncertain origin and meaning, yet apparently found also in Old Saxon lērio, lēreo (“teacher, prophet”).

Some authorities believe the second element to be a corruption of Old English þēow (“servant; minister”), which shows up in later forms of the word, e.g. Old English lārþēaw (for *lārþēow), Middle English lorthew, etc., yet this might be assimilation in retrospect caused by confusion or folk-etymology.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɑːrˌe͜oːw/

Noun

lārēow m

1. teacher
   • late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of Pope Gregory's Pastoral Care

     Sē lārēow sċeal bēon eallum mannum efnþrōwiende.

     A teacher should be sympathetic to everyone.

   • c. 9-10th century, Bede, "Preface"

     Ǣrest mē wæs fultumiend 7 lārēow se ārwurða abbad Albinus, se wæs wīde ġefaren 7 gelǣred, 7 wæs betst ġelǣred on Angelcynne.

     My first assistant and teacher was the venerable abbot Albinus, a man who had travelled much and studied, and was the best scholar in England.

Declension

Declension of lareow (strong a-stem)

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	lārēow	lārēowas
accusative	lārēow	lārēowas
genitive	lārēowes	lārēowa
dative	lārēowe	lārēowum

Coordinate terms

• lǣrestre f (“female teacher”)

Derived terms

• ǣlārēow
• hēahlārēow
• lārēowdōm
• lārēowlīċ
• lārēowsetl

Descendants

• Middle English: larew