hrīðer, n.n: horned cattle, ox, cow, heifer. (“HREE-ther”)
A grinning ox in Jacob van Maerlant’s Der Naturen Bloeme. Flanders, c. 1350. Koninklijke Bibliotheek, KB, KA 16, f. 47r. [bestiary.ca]
hrīðer
Old English Wordhord
Old English Word of the Day
Perhaps hriþer-heifer is an early example of the odd, to Americans, substitution of f for th in Cockney English and maybe other Englishes. (applied in Russell Hoban’s “toofy teef.”)
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