† inneadv.prep.

Etymology: A merging of two distinct words, reflecting differently suffixed forms of the same Germanic base: (i) Old English innan , adverb and preposition, ‘(from) within, inside, into’, innane , adverb, ‘within, inside’, cognate with Old Frisian inna adverb and preposition (East Frisian inne , North Frisian inne ), Old Dutch innana , adverb (Middle Dutch innen ), Old Saxon innan , adverb and preposition (Middle Low German innen ), Old High German innan , adverb and preposition, innana , adverb (Middle High German innen , German innen ), Old Icelandic innan , adverb and preposition, Old Danish innan , adverb and preposition (Danish inden ), Old Swedish innan , adverb and preposition (Swedish innan ), Gothic innana < the Germanic base of in adv. + a Germanic suffix forming adverbs expressing motion ‘from’ (compare outen adv.); the original sense ‘from within’ is preserved in Gothic, Old Icelandic, (rarely) Old Swedish, and (rarely) Old English (in other older stages of Germanic the semantic broadening to ‘within, inside’ and ‘into’ is already complete; compare note); (ii) Old English inne , adverb, ‘within, inside’, cognate with Old Frisian inne , adverb (East Frisian inne ), Old Dutch inne , adverb (Middle Dutch inne , early modern Dutch inne ), Old Saxon inna , inne , adverb (Middle Low German inne ), Old High German inna , inni , inne , adverb and preposition (Middle High German inne ), Old Icelandic inni , adverb, Old Danish inni , innæ , adverb (Danish inde ), Old Swedish inne , adverb (Swedish inne ), Gothic inna < the Germanic base of in adv. + a Germanic adverbial suffix with locative sense seen also in Old English ūte (see out adv., int., and prep.).These two Old English words reflect Germanic formations that were originally different in sense, forming part of a suffixal pattern (inn ~ inne ~ innan ) that is also seen in certain other adverbs of place: the form without suffix (inn in adv.) originally expressed motion to a place, the form with suffix -e position in a place, and the form with suffix -an motion from a place; compare ūt ~ ūte ~ ūtan (see out adv., outen adv.). However, it is debatable to what extent such a clear-cut mapping of form to sense ever existed in Old English; certainly, by the time of attested Old English much semantic blurring has taken place. Only traces remain of the original sense ‘from within’ of innan , whose more usual senses are ‘within, inside’ and ‘into’; inne likewise is used indiscriminately of position ‘within, inside’ and motion ‘into’ a place. In fact, the main difference between the two words is that innan is both an adverb and a preposition, whereas inne is only an adverb (although see below for apparent prepositional use in certain specific contexts). The two words fell together formally in early Middle English as inne (by the end of the 13th cent.). After final -e ceased to be pronounced (in the 13th cent in northern Middle English and Older Scots, and in the 14th cent. in southern Middle English), instances of inne (and ynne ) are perhaps to be interpreted as merely variant spellings of in (see in adv., in prep.). Notes on forms. In common with other Old English adverbs in -an , innan has a by-form innane with final -e (compare e.g. ūtane outen adv.). The α. forms show Old English innan and its reflexes; the β. forms partly show Old English inne and its reflexes and partly derive from the α. forms with loss of final -n . Use as preposition in β forms. In use as preposition in β. forms earliest (in Old English) postpositively at the end of a relative clause, where its object is the relative pronoun at the head of the clause (compare examples at B. 1a β), a usage which (at least in Old English) is sometimes alternatively interpreted as showing the adverb; compare discussion in B. Mitchell Old Eng. Syntax (1985) §§1060–80, esp. §§1064, 1076 (Mitchell favours the general term prepositional adverb and the specific term postposition for this particular usage), and also discussion of ‘preposition stranding’, specifically in relative clauses, in D. Ringe & A. Taylor Devel. Old Eng. (2014) 445. In Middle English this usage is very common, as is also simple postpositive use in verse (compare e.g. quot. c1330 at sense B. 1aβ. ). Straightforward prepositional use governing a following noun (as e.g. in quots. a1225 at sense B. 1aβ. , c1475 at sense B. 3β. ) probably reflects Old English innan.