pre-Englishadj.n.
/priːˈɪŋ(ɡ)lɪʃ/, U.S. /priˈɪŋ(ɡ)lɪʃ/ A. adj.
1.
a. Designating or relating to a period before settlement (esp. of the British Isles) by speakers of English.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > languages of the world > Indo-Hittite > [adjective] > Indo-European > Germanic > English > before settlement of English speakers
pre-English1887
1887 Cent. Mag. Dec. 227/1 It [sc. north-eastern England] owes its faith of to-day not to St. Augustine's mission, but to the old pre-English establishment.
1895 Overland Monthly Jan. 103 The work takes up its subject in the pre-English Ages... It carries the subject on down to the death of Emerson.
1922 F. Klaeber Beowulf 190 The poet was interested in the old Anglian traditions—the only legends in Beowulf that are concerned with persons belonging to English (i.e., pre-English) stock.
1946 S. K. Chatterji in J. T. Shipley Encycl. Lit. 500 There is a fairly extensive literature, of quite a high standard, in pre-English Bengal, i.e., before 1800 A.D.
1966 Eng. Stud. 47 210 The oldest river-names are of pre-English origin.
1994 William & Mary Q. 51 358 The other pre-English colonies in the region—the Scandinavian and Dutch settlements of the Delaware Valley.
b. Of or relating to the use of a given word before its adoption into English. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > languages of the world > Indo-Hittite > [adjective] > Indo-European > Germanic > English > before the emergence of English > before adoption of given word
pre-English1960
1960 C. S. Lewis Stud. in Words vi. 133 In modern English the two meanings are not at all related as parent and child. They can be explained only by the pre-English history of the word.
2. Designating or relating to the period before the emergence of the English language; of or relating to the West Germanic or Anglo-Frisian dialect from which English developed.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > languages of the world > Indo-Hittite > [adjective] > Indo-European > Germanic > English > before the emergence of English
pre-English1928
1928 C. Bergener Contrib. Study Conversion of Adjs. into Nouns 1 The conversion should have taken place in English, but for the sake of greater completeness also such cases have been included where the conversion was, or may have been, pre-English.
1936 Anglia 60 367 To the Langobardish Laiamicho answers a pre-English trisyllabic *Lāimikô > *Laimikô.
1959 Language 35 596 Some of these early spellings point towards a late pre-English and very early Old English triad of the type [æw, ew, iw].
B. n.
The West Germanic or Anglo-Frisian dialect from which English developed; (also occasionally) English before written records. Also more generally: any language which may be regarded as a forerunner of (modern) English.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > languages of the world > Indo-Hittite > [noun] > Indo-European > Germanic > Anglo-Frisian
Anglo-Frisian1877
pre-English1920
Ingvaeonic1933
the mind > language > languages of the world > Indo-Hittite > [noun] > Indo-European > Germanic > English > Old English
Saxon1390
Saxonish1549
English-Saxona1669
Anglo-Saxon1678
OE1868
Old English1871
pre-English1920
1920 I. Edman Human Traits & their Social Significance x. 223 In the classic example, pre-English, ‘habeda’ and ‘habedun’ became in Old English, ‘hæfde’ and ‘hæfdon’.
1965 Language 41 34 The allophones of /g/..reveal..both [g] and [ʒ] in pre-English.
2000 Daily Mail (Nexis) 27 Jan. 13 It [sc. Beowulf] is only read by specialists in ancient English, or rather pre-English.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1887