frith

See also: Frith, fríth, frìth, friþ, and frith-

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɹɪθ/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪθ

Etymology 1

From Middle English frith, from Old English friþ, friþu (“peace, tranquility, security, refuge”), from Proto-West Germanic *friþu, from Proto-Germanic *friþuz (“peace, reconciliation”), from Proto-Indo-European *priHós (“beloved, happy”).

Cognate with Dutch vrede (“peace, quiet, tranquility”), German Frieden (“peace, tranquility”), Swedish frid (“peace, serenity”), Icelandic friður (“peace, tranquility”). Related to free.

Noun

frith (uncountable)

1. (rare, archaic, poetic) Peace; security.
   • 1973, University of Western Australia Law Review - Volume 11, page 21:

     Thus the king declares that he wants to see his peace or 'frith' extended to his people and that moots are urged to frith all that the king wills to be frithed

2. (obsolete) Sanctuary, asylum.

Usage notes

• (peace): This sense is obsolete, except that it has recently been revived among followers of Heathenry. When used by Heathens, it is fairly synonymous with the slightly less rare English word comity.

Derived terms

• frithstool

Etymology 2

From Middle English frithen, from Old English friþian (“to give frith to, make peace with, be at peace with, cherish, protect, guard, defend, keep, observe”), from Proto-Germanic *friþōną (“to make peace, secure, protect”), from Proto-Indo-European *prēy-, *prāy- (“to like, love”).

Cognate with Scots frethe, freith (“to set free, liberate”), Danish frede (“to have peace, protect, inclose, fence in”), Swedish freda (“to cover, protect, quiet, inclose, fence in”), Icelandic friða (“to make peace, preserve”).

Alternative forms

• freath

Verb

frith (third-person singular simple present friths, present participle frithing, simple past and past participle frithed)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To protect; guard.
   • 1868, George Stephens, The Old-Northern Runic Monuments of Scandanavia and England, page 732:

     This monument and the Cairns themselves have been purchast by the State, and are now therefore "frithed", protected and national property.

   • 1973, University of Western Australia Law Review - Volume 11, page 21:

     Thus the king declares that he wants to see his peace or 'frith' extended to his people and that moots are urged to 'frith all that the king wills to be frithed

2. (transitive, obsolete) To enclose; fence in, as a forest or park.
   • 1808, Charles Vancouver, General View of the Agriculture of the County of Devon, page 134:

     On the other of these improvements, the base of the mound was six feet, its height five feet, and breadth at the top nearly the same; this, with the side-drains or ditches on each side, made the whole scite of the fence about 12 feet; cost of raising the mound and frithing, 4s . per perch.

   • 1811, Richard Carew, Thomas Tonkin, Francis Basset Baron Basset of Stratton, Carew's Survey of Cornwall, page 249:

     In the halfe circle enclosed between the flood-gate and the compasse frith, there is digged a round pit, of three foot diameter, and foure foot depth, frithed on the sides, which is continually fedde with the water soaking from the sayd flood-gate, and serueth to keepe any fish aliue, that you haue before taken, and so to saue ouer often drawing.

   • 1815, Great Britain. Board of Agriculture, Agricultural Surveys: pts. 1-2. South Wales (1815), page 51:

     During the same period, Mr. Davis has also enclosed open copse-woods of oak, on the south of the Teivy 90 acres, on the north of the teivy, 100 acres: all fenced with a foss and mound, planted on the top with quicks, which are "frithed" or guarded on the outside by a hedge of wattled trouse.

Etymology 3

From Middle English frith (“forest, woodland; hedging”), from Old English fyrhþe, fyrhþ (“forest, wooded country; game preserve, hunting ground”), from Proto-West Germanic *furhiþi (“forest, woodland”), Proto-Germanic *furhiþją (“forest, wooded country”), *furhiþǭ, from *furhu (“fir; pine”), from *furahō, *furhō (“fir; pine; (fir or pine) forest”), from Proto-Indo-European *pérkus (“oak”), from *perkʷ- (“oak”). The English word is cognate with Latin quercus (“oak”), Old English fyrh (“fir, pine”), Old High German forst, foreht (“forest”), Old Norse fýri (“pine-wood, coniferous forest”). Latin foresta (whence eventually English forest), may be borrowed from the same West Germanic source.

Noun

frith (plural friths)

2. A forest or wood; woodland generally.
   • 1612, Michael Drayton, Poly-Olbion, song 11 p. 174:

     As over Holt and Heath, as thorough Frith and Fell; [...]

3. (British, dialectal) Land with mostly undergrowth and few trees; also, land in between forests or woods; pastureland which is not in use.
4. Brushwood or undergrowth, sometimes in the form of a hedge.
5. A hedge, especially one made from brushwood which has been wattled; also, a movable frame made from wattled branches, a hurdle.
6. (obsolete) A kind of weir made from wattled branches for catching fish.

Etymology 4

A metathetic variant of firth.

Noun

frith (plural friths)

2. (archaic) Alternative form of firth (“an arm or inlet of the sea”).
   • 1776, Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol I, ch 1-pt i:

     He [Agricola] had observed, that the island [Britannia; now Great Britain] is almost divided into two unequal parts by the opposite gulfs, or, as they are now called, the Friths of Scotland.

   • 1807, Charlotte Turner Smith, Beachy Head:

     / The southern hills / That to the setting Sun, their graceful heads / Rearing, o'erlook the frith, where Vecta breaks / With her white rocks, the strong impetuous tide, / When western winds the vast Atlantic urge / To thunder on the coast

Further reading

• frith on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “frith” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.
• “frith”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

• Firth, firth

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English friþ, friþu, from Proto-West Germanic *friþu, from Proto-Germanic *friþuz.

Alternative forms

• ffryth, firth, freth, freþ, frið, friþ, friþþ, fryth, fryþ

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /friθ/

Noun

frith (uncountable)

2. A state of general peace or tranquility.
3. (rare) Traditional or customary law.

Related terms

• frithen

Descendants

• English: frith

References

• “frith, n.(1)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 2

From Old English fyrhþe, fyrhþ, from Proto-West Germanic *furhiþi, from Proto-Germanic *furhiþją, *furhiþǭ.

Alternative forms

• freth, frethe, fritthe, friþ, friþe, fruth, fryght, fryth, ffyrthe

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /friθ/, /firθ/, /frixt/, /friːxt/

Noun

frith (plural frithes)

2. royal forest or wood
3. forested wild
4. forest clearing
5. (rare, Late Middle English) fenced land
6. (rare, Late Middle English) hedging (as a fence)

Descendants

• English: frith, firth
• Scots: firth (poetic)

References

• “frith, n.(2)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Old Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse friðr.

Noun

frith m

1. peace

Descendants

• Danish: fred

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

Derived from the preposition ri (“with, against”), from Old Irish fri (“towards”).

Adjective

frith

1. little, small

Usage notes

• Always used before the noun it qualifies.
• Usually used as a prefix.

Derived terms

• frith-

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vriːθ/

Adjective

frith

1. Soft mutation of brith.

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
brith	frith	mrith	unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.