Zibbe

German

Alternative forms

Zippe (rare), Sibbe, Sipp, Ziwwe, Ziffe, Zipp (dialectal, archaic)

Etymology

First attested in the 19th century. Probably from or related to Proto-West Germanic *tibā (“bitch, female dog”), whence also Middle Low German tēve, tiffe, Middle Dutch tēve (13th c., modern Dutch teef), Old English tife.[1][2]

While the 19th-century attestation is surely belated, the total lack of medieval evidence and the fact that the word is native almost exclusively in East Central German, thus outside the original Old High German territory, make its inheritedness uncertain. One alternative would be a phonetically adapted borrowing from Low German (during the time of dialect mixing in the colonial areas), plausibly under the influence of Middle High German zūpe (“bitch, doe rabbit”). Note that the unadapted form is found in northern East Central German Tiffe (“cur”)[3] as well as Ripuarian Tiff (“bitch”, locally also “doe rabbit”).[4]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈtsɪbə/
Audio (file)

Noun

Zibbe f (genitive Zibbe, plural Zibben)

(regional) ewe or nanny goat
Synonyms: Schaf, Mutterschaf; Ziege, Zicke
(technical) doe hare or doe rabbit
Synonym: Häsin
(dialectal or archaic) bitch, she-dog
Synonym: Hündin

Declension

Declension of Zibbe [feminine]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	eine	die	Zibbe	die	Zibben
genitive	einer	der	Zibbe	der	Zibben
dative	einer	der	Zibbe	den	Zibben
accusative	eine	die	Zibbe	die	Zibben

References

Kroonen, Guus (2013) “tib(b)ōn-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 515
van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “teef1”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute
K. Bischoff: Akener Wörterbuch, in: Mitteldeutsche Studien 82 (1977).
“Tife”, in: Rheinisches Wörterbuch.