Fife

See also: Fifer and fife

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Scottish Gaelic Fìobha, said to date back to the eponym Fib, one of the seven sons of the legendary Pictish king Cruithne. Possibly related to the Uip attested in the Pictish kings lists, in turn possibly related to the Latin Vepogenus, in which the first element is the Proto-Brythonic predecessor of Welsh gwep (“face”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfaɪf/
• Rhymes: -aɪf

Proper noun

Fife

1. A traditional county of Scotland succeeded by Fife Region in 1975, situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with landward boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire.
   • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv], line 993:

     Ross: Will you to Scone?
     Macduff: No, cousin, I'll to Fife.

2. A council area of Scotland, one of 32 created in 1996.
3. A place in the United States:
   1. An unincorporated community in McCulloch County, Texas, named after Fife in Scotland.
   2. An unincorporated community in Goochland County, Virginia, named after the owner of the village site.
   3. A city in Pierce County, Washington, possibly named after William J. Fife.
4. A surname.

Synonyms

• Fifeshire (older usage)

Derived terms

• Fife Ness

Translations

county

• Irish: Foibhe m
• Scottish Gaelic: Fìobha m

See also

• Fyfe

Anagrams

• fief