steorfa

Middle English

Noun

steorfa (uncountable)

alternative form of steorve

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *sterbō, from Proto-Germanic *sterbô; compare steorfan.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈste͜or.fɑ/, [ˈste͜orˠ.vɑ]

Noun

steorfa m

pestilence, mortality
dead animals and their flesh
dead things and their places of death

Declension

Weak:

	singular	plural
nominative	steorfa	steorfan
accusative	steorfan	steorfan
genitive	steorfan	steorfena
dative	steorfan	steorfum

Synonyms

cwealm n (“death”)
strīċ n (“plague”)

Derived terms

fǣrsteorfa m (“pestilence”)

Related terms

cwelan (“to die”)
cwellan (“to kill”)
ġecwylman (“to torment”)
pīnian (“to torture”)
steorfan (“to die”)
sūsl f (“torment”)
tintregian (“to afflict”)
tūcian (“to harass”)
wīte n (“punishment”)
wreccan (“to twist or torment”)

Descendants

Middle English: steorve, steorfa, storve, sterve (early)

References

Joseph Bosworth, T. Northcote Toller (1898) “steorfa”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary‎^[1], second edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.