myrgþ

Old English

Alternative forms

• mergþ, mirgþ, miriġþ

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-West Germanic *murgiþu (“briefness, brevity”); equivalent to myriġe (“merry”) +‎ -þ (“-th, -ness”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /myrxθ/, [myrˠxθ]

Noun

myrgþ f

1. mirth
   • Homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church

     Sēo tīd onginð on ðisum Sunnandæġe, nigon wucon ǣr Ēastron, and ġeendað on ðām Saternesdæġe þǣre Ēasterlīċan wucan: tō ðām dæġe sind heonon ġetealde hundseofontiġ daga; and þæt Israhela folc, for heora māndǣdum and forgǣġednyssum, wurdon ġehergode, and hundseofontiġ ġēara on Babilonisċum þēowdōme, buton blisse and myrhðe, wunodon.

     This time begins this Sunday, nine weeks before Easter, and ends on the Saturday in the week of Easter: to that day, from here, are seventy days; and the Israelites, for their evil deeds and transgressions, were taken captive, and spent seventy years living in slavery to the Bablyonians, without joy or mirth.

Declension

Strong ō-stem:

	singular	plural
nominative	myrgþ	myrgþa, myrgþe
accusative	myrgþe	myrgþa, myrgþe
genitive	myrgþe	myrgþa
dative	myrgþe	myrgþum

Descendants

• Middle English: myrthe, merth, merthe, merþe, mirthe, mirth, murhthe, murþe, myrth, myrþe, merhð, mirhð, mureȝþ, murehþ, murcð, murȝþ, murhd, murhð, muruhð (Early Middle English)
  • English: mirth
  • Scots: mirth