n.
'froth'
(Modern English froth)Always derived from ON; most etymologies cite only OIcel froða ‘froth’, though some refer both to this and OIcel frauð ‘froth’ (Cl-V: ‘as of roasted meat or of a roasted apple’; in MnIcel also ‘withered marrow’), which could give late OE *frōþ (so OED). The ulterior etymology of these words is obscure; the only certain cognate in Gmc is OE āfrēoþan ‘to froth’ (a hapax legomenon, see DOE) which supposes a PGmc st. II verbal root *freuþ-, of which OIcel froða and frauð represent formations respectively on the zero and a-grades (*fruþ-, *frauþ-). An unrecorded native *froþ is therefore possible, but in the absence of anything attested in OE other than the v. āfrēoþan the benefit of the doubt is always given to loan from ON.
PGmc Ancestor
*fruþ- or *frauþ-
Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)
froða ‘froth’; frauð ‘froth’
(ONP froða (sb.); frauð (sb.))
Other Scandinavian Reflexes
Far, froða, froði, Icel froðe, Norw frode, froda, Dan fråde, Sw dial fruddo, frådas; Far froyður, Icel frauð, Norw fraud, Sw dial fraud, fröda, frau
OE Cognate
cp. āfrēoþan (v.) ‘to froth’
Phonological and morphological markers
Summary category
C1
Attested from the late 14c. onwards in ME, with no evident dial bias.
Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus
Gaw 1572