oxa

From Proto-West Germanic *ohsō.

• IPA^(key): /ˈok.sɑ/

oxa m

1. ox
   • c. 992, Ælfric, "Sermon on the Nativiity of Our Lord"

     "Sē oxa oncnēow his hlāford, and sē assa his hlāfordes binne."

     "The ox knows his master, and the ass his master's bin."

     Þā ġeseah hēo þæt cild licgan on binne, ðǣr sē oxa and sē assa ġewunelīce fōdan sēcað.

     Then saw she the child lying in the bin, where the ox and the ass usually seek food.

   • late 10th century, Ælfric, the Old English Hexateuch, Deuteronomy 28:31

     Man slihþ þīnne oxan beforan þē, and þū his ne ābītst.

     Your ox will be slaughtered in front of you, and you won't get to taste it.

• Anglian dialects preserve the zero-grade suffix in the nominative plural, so it is œxen in the Mercian dialect and exen in the Northumbrian dialect.

• feldoxa (“field-ox”)
• oxanhierde (“oxherd”)
• Oxnaford (“Oxford”)

• Middle English: oxe, hox, nox, occe, ocxe, okse, ox, oxhe, oxse
  • English: ox (see there for further descendants)
  • Middle Scots: ox, hox, oix, oxe, oxx
    • Scots: ouse (either from Middle Scots *owse or rebuilt on the plural owsyn)