heyfre

Middle English

Alternative forms

haffer, hayfare, hayfre, hefere, heffere, heffre, heyfer, heyfor, heyfur
heekfar, hefker, hekfare, hekfere, hekfore (with fortition)

Etymology

Inherited from Old English hēahfore, hēahfru, of disputed etymology; see that entry for discussion.

Notes on phonological development

Forms with /ɛː/ continue Late Old English hēafru, which develops from a syncopated hēahfru with simplification of the resulting consonant cluster /xfr/. In these forms, the first-syllable vowel /æ͜ɑː/ retained its length, regularly developing to /ɛː/ because the medial cluster /fr/ was identified as the onset of the second syllable (i.e. /ˈxæ͜ɑː.fre/). Forms with /ɛ/ and /a/ come in part from forms where the cluster was split between the two syllables, resulting in regular shortening of the initial-syllable vowel (i.e. /ˈxæ͜ɑf.re/), but as we will see, they also continue Old English trisyllabic hēahfore.

In trisyllabic forms of this word (hē̆ahfore, hē̆hfore), the first-syllabic vowel was regularly shortened due to trisyllabic shortening; the remaining forms with /ɛ/, /a/ develop when /x/ was lost before it could cause the diphthongisation ("breaking") of the preceding vowel, while those with /æi̯/ are the result of this breaking. In forms with /kf/, /x/ was subject to fortition instead of being lost (pace Liberman; compare sixt (“(thou) seest”), sikth (“(he) sees”)); forms with /fk/ are further developments of these forms due to metathesis.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈhæi̯frə/, /ˈhɛːfrə/, /ˈhɛfrə/, /ˈhafrə/, /-ər(ə)/
(with fortition) IPA^(key): /ˈhɛkfrə/, /ˈhɛfkrə/, /-ər(ə)/

Noun

heyfre (plural heyfres)

A heifer (young female cow).

Descendants

English: heifer (obsolete dialectal hefker, hekfer)
Scots: heifer
Yola: hiver

References

“heifer, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.