† webben.

Etymology: Apparently cognate with Old Saxon webbia (feminine) female weaver, < an ablaut variant (o -grade) of the Germanic base of weave v.¹, with suffix causing i-mutation of the stem vowel and gemination of the stem-final consonant. Compare webster n.¹Gender and inflection in Old English. In Old English apparently two distinct words (differing only in the form of the nominative singular): weak masculine webba and weak feminine webbe ; it is unclear how far the grammatical gender correlates with the sex of the referent. The weak masculine webba is certainly attested denoting a male weaver (compare quot. OE at sense 1), but this should not be taken as proof that the same form could not sometimes be used in a gender-neutral way (compare discussion at webster n.¹). By the Middle English period the reflexes of the two words would in any case have fallen together (probably earlier in some dialects; compare late Northumbrian Old English weak masculine webbe ), after which any differentiation in sense would be dependent on context. The Old English weak feminine webbe is not attested as a simplex, but only as the second element in the poetic compound friþuwebbe , lit. ‘peace weaver’, used as an epithet for a (high-ranking) woman (beside the corresponding weak masculine friþuwebba , used of an angel):OE Widsith 6 He mid Ealhhilde, fælre freoþuwebban, forman siþe Hreðcyninges ham gesohte eastan of Ongle, Eormanrices, wraþes wærlogan.OE Cynewulf Elene 88 He..up locade, swa him se ar abead, fæle friðowebba.OE Beowulf (2008) 1942 Ne bið swylc cwenlic þeaw idese to efnanne, þeah ðe hio ænlicu sy, þætte freoðuwebbe feores onsæce æfter ligetorne leofne mannan.Wider currency of feminine webbe in Old English in the literal sense is usually assumed, but is not certain; it is supported by the attestation of a (probably weak) feminine Old Saxon cognate. Possible reflexes of early compounds. The Middle English forms webanlam weaver's loom, and webben lyȝt , apparently denoting a light maintained by the weavers' guild, probably reflect weak inflection of the noun as first element in a genitive compound (compare Old English genitive singular -an , genitive plural -ena ), perhaps reanalysed as showing -en suffix⁴. This suggests that these compounds were formed much earlier than their dates of first attestation (in Latin contexts):1346 in F. B. Bickley Little Red Bk. Bristol (1900) II. 3 Si aliquod instrumentum textoris, videlicet Webanlam de nouo fiat..soluet pro feodo Majoris v s. j d.1403 Will of Ralph Stylle (P.R.O.: PROB. 11/2) f. 32 Lego ad lumen beate marie vocatum Webben lyȝt xl d. Some of the Middle English compounds listed at web n. may alternatively be interpreted as compounds of webbe n. (compare discussion at web n. Compounds 1).