† afgodn.

Etymology: < a presumed Old English noun afgod (only in early modern dictionaries: see note), cognate with Old Frisian afgod (West Frisian ôfgod ), Old Dutch afgot (Middle Dutch, Dutch afgod ), Old Saxon afgod (Middle Low German afgot ), all probably ultimately < Old High German abgot idol, heathen god (Middle High German abgot , German Abgott ) < ab- (see of prep.) + got god n. and int., perhaps after Gothic afguþs (adjective) godless, impious (see note). Compare ( < Middle Low German) Old Icelandic (in late sources) afguð, Swedish afguþ (Swedish afgud), Old Danish afguth (Danish afgud), all in sense ‘idol, heathen god’. Compare also Gothic afgudei impiety.The word is not attested in Old English (the expected form would be *æfgod ), despite the fact that both afgod and its derivative afgodnes (see afgodness n.) are listed by early lexicographers of Old English:1605 R. Verstegan Restit. Decayed Intelligence 207 (Gloss. Anc. Eng. Tovng) Afgod, an Idol. Afgodnes, Idolatrie.1659 W. Somner Dict. Saxonico-Latino-Anglicum Afgod,..an idol, an image. Afgodnesse,..idolatry, worshipping of idols or images.Although it remains possible that their source was a lost manuscript, it is probably more likely that Verstegan assumed the Anglo-Saxon antiquity of the words from his knowledge of Dutch afgod; he may conceivably also have been aware of Old Saxon afgod (perhaps transmitted via the Old Saxon translation of the Sermon for All Saints, formerly attributed to Bede, in which it appears), although this would not account for afgodnes, which has no known parallels. Compare H. Crawforth ‘Prophetic language and etymological discovery in the work of Richard Verstegan’ in New Medieval Literatures 2007 9 (2008) 108–15. The use of the West Germanic prefix to form a concrete noun is unusual, and it has been suggested that the formation originally arose in a Christian missionary context in the south of the Old High German speech area, under the influence of the more regular Gothic adjective afguþs godless, impious (see D. H. Green Lang. & Hist. Early Germanic World (1998) 317–18, E. Karg-Gasterstädt in Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache u. Lit. 67 (1945) 420–33). Perhaps compare Old English æf-gælþ superstition.