boveadv.prep.

Etymology: Originally (in Old English) cognate with or formed similarly to Old Frisian bova , adverb and preposition (West Frisian boppe ), Middle Dutch boven , bouen , adverb and preposition (Dutch boven ), Old Saxon bioban , adverb (in an apparently isolated attestation; Middle Low German bōven (adverb and preposition), bōvene (adverb), German regional (Low German) baben , baven , boven , adverb and preposition) < the Germanic base of be- prefix 1 + the Germanic base of Old English ufan (adverb) above, from above, Old Saxon obana , adverb (Middle Low German ōvene ), Old High German obana , obena , adverb (Middle High German obene , oben , German oben ), Old Icelandic ofan , adverb and preposition, Old Swedish ovan , adverb and preposition (Swedish oven ), Old Danish ouæn , ovæn , adverb and preposition (Danish oven ) < the Germanic base of Old High German oba above (see over adj.) + a Germanic adverbial suffix (compare outen adv., adj., and prep.).Compare above adv., above prep., anoven adv. In later use (from the late Middle English period onwards) probably always aphetic < above adv. (as seen most clearly in the now usual spelling with initial apostrophe). Given the apparent lack of non-poetic instances of the preposition between the early 16th and the late 19th cent., and the existence of English regional abeun , abyun , etc. (compare forms at above adv., prep., n., and adj.), it is unlikely that there is any continuity between the Old English and early Middle English forms and the 19th-cent. English regional forms beun, byun.The β. forms show loss of final -n. Also apparently attested early in place names, as Bovenie, Boveniae (1086; now Boveney, Buckinghamshire), Bovehric (1086; now Boveridge, Dorset), etc.