lareow

Middle English

Noun

lareow

Alternative form of larew

Old English

Alternative forms

hlārēow — erroneous
lāruw, lāruu, lāreu — Mercian

Etymology

From lār (“teaching; doctrine”) +‎ *ēow, a word or suffix of uncertain origin and meaning, yet apparently found also in Old Saxon lērio, lēreo (“teacher, prophet”).

Some authorities believe the second element to be a corruption of Old English þēow (“servant; minister”), which shows up in later forms of the word, e.g. Old English lārþēaw (for *lārþēow), Middle English lorthew, etc., yet this might be assimilation in retrospect caused by confusion or folk-etymology.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈlɑːrˌe͜oːw/

Noun

lārēow m

teacher
- late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of Pope Gregory's Pastoral Care
  Sē lārēow sċeal bēon eallum mannum efnþrōwiende.
  A teacher should be sympathetic to everyone.
- c. 9-10th century, Bede, "Preface"
  Ǣrest mē wæs fultumiend 7 lārēow se ārwurða abbad Albinus, se wæs wīde ġefaren 7 gelǣred, 7 wæs betst ġelǣred on Angelcynne.
  My first assistant and teacher was the venerable abbot Albinus, a man who had travelled much and studied, and was the best scholar in England.

Declension

Strong a-stem:

	singular	plural
nominative	lārēow	lārēowas
accusative	lārēow	lārēowas
genitive	lārēowes	lārēowa
dative	lārēowe	lārēowum

Coordinate terms

lǣrestre f (“female teacher”)

Derived terms

Descendants

Middle English: larew