if

conj.

Gaw iif; WA yf, yff

'if' (Modern English if)

Etymology

Gaw commonly has the variant <if> next to <ʒif>, which is almost always derived straightforwardly from OE gif (gief, gyf etc.) with loss of initial /j/ (so OED, MED, TGD, GDS etc.); cp. Go ibai, iba (‘whether, lest’, next to jabai ‘if, even if, although’), OIcel ef, OFris ief, gef, ef, OS ef, OHG ibu. Miller (2012: 108) is alone in interpreting the ME form as a blending of the OE and ON words, largely based on the number of if forms from the N and N Midlands, (but on this, see further distribution).

PGmc Ancestor

?*eƀō(i)

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

ef 'if, in the event that'
(ONP ef (3) (conjunc.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Icel ef, if

OE Cognate

gif, gief, gyf (etc.) 'if'

Phonological and morphological markers

Summary category

CCC2a

Attestation

MED’s earliest citations without an initial consonant are from manuscripts c. 1300, viz. ?a1300(a1250) Harrow.H.(Dgb 86), a1300(a1250) Bestiary (Arun 292), a1325(c1250) Gen.& Ex.(Corp-C 444), c1300(?c1225) Horn (Cmb Gg.4.27) (<ef>). LAEME dot map 00055403 shows the if-type of spellings already widely scattered, including some in the N/EM, but also a cluster in the SWM; and LALME dot map 211 has it widespread across the whole country.  The clearly native-derived variants with initial /j/ are least common in the N and NM in both LAEME (dot map 00055405) and LALME (dot map 212) (see further Williamson 2002: 272-7). 

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Gaw 30, 272, 277, etc.; Pe 147, 264, 265 etc.; Cl 12, 13, 36 etc.; Pat 30, 75, 83 etc.; Erk 176, 271, 274; WA 13, 103, 106 etc.

Bibliography

MED if (conj.) , OED if (conj. and n.) , HTOED , Dance if, de Vries ef (2), Mag. ef, if, Orel *eƀō(i), DOE gif, AEW gief, gif