herberwe

From the oblique cases of Old English herebeorg, from Proto-West Germanic *harjabergu; equivalent to here (“army”) +‎ bergh.

Forms with /u/ show remodelling of the second element based on Old English burh, while Northern forms in /iː/ likely show the same development of an epenthetic vowel between /ɛl/, /ɛr/ and historic /ɣ/ as Northern Middle English sweligh and Early Scots swely (“to swallow”); this evidently postdates the monophthongisation of Old English /e͜o/.

• harborowe, harbrow, herbarwe, herberewe, herberge, herbergh, herberȝ, herberȝ, herberough, herberow, herberowe, herberowȝe, herberwh, herbore, herborewe, herborogh, herborowe, herboru, herborugh, herborwe
• hærberȝe, hærberwe, herberia, herboruwe, hereberȝe (Early Middle English); herbearhe (AB language); herrberrȝhe (Ormulum)
• harborow, harborrow, harburrow, herberhe, herborgh, herbrow, herburgh (Late Middle English);
• herberi, herberie, herberye, herbory (Northern); harbar, harber, herbar, herber (West Midland or Yorkshire); herborwh (West Midland)

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɛrˌbɛrwə/, /ˈhɛrbɛrɔu̯(ə)/, /ˈhɛrˌbɛruː/, /ˈhɛrˌbɛrx(ə)/, /ˈhar-/
• IPA^(key): /ˈhɛrˌburwə/, /ˈhɛrˌburɔu̯(ə)/, /ˈhɛrˌburuː/, /ˈhɛrˌburx(ə)/, /ˈhar-/ (influenced by burh)
• IPA^(key): /ˈhɛrbəriː/, /ˈharbəriː/ (Northern), /ˈhɛrbər/, /ˈharbər/ (especially Late Middle English)

herberwe (plural herberwes)

1. A place of residence; habitations:
   • 1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Frankeleyns Tale”, in The Canterbury Tales, [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], →OCLC; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: […] [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, →OCLC:

     To ech of hem his tyme and his seson, / As thyn herberwe chaungeth lowe or heighe

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   1. Accommodation, shelter; a temporary residence.
      • c. 1390, “Merci passeþ. alle þinge.”, in Sowlehele (Vernon Lyrics, Bodleian MS. Eng. poet. a. 1)‎^[1], Worcestershire, folio 407, recto; republished at Oxford: Digital Bodleian, 10 January 2019:

        Whon I. of herboꝛwe. hedde gret nede / Þou woldeſt not. to þin hous me take […]

        When I really needed shelter / You wouldn't take me to your house […]

   2. A military base or camp.
   3. (figurative) The womb; the uterus.
2. (rare) Providing for guests; hospitality.
3. (nautical, rare) A harbour or port.

• herberer
• herberwen
• herberweles

• English: harbor, harbour (Commonwealth), harborough, herborough, harborow (all obsolete)
  • → Cebuano: harbor
  • → Marshallese: aba
  • → Welsh: harbwr
• Middle Scots: herbery, harbery, herbrie
  • Scots: harboury (obsolete), hairbour (possibly borrowed from English)

• “herberwe, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

herberwe

1. alternative form of herberwen