OE. stéop- (earlier stéup-, Northumb. stéap-), corresponding to OFris. stiap-, stiep- (NFris. stjap-, sjap-, stîp-, WFris. stiep-), MLG. (irreg.) stêf- (mod. LG. staif-), (M)Du. (irreg.) stief-, OHG. stiuf- (MHG., mod.G. stief-), ON. stjúp-, (MSw. stiup-, stiuf-; mod.Sw. stiuf-, styf-; Da. stif-, stiv-, now superseded by sted-):—OTeut. *steupo-; a Com. Teut. combining element (not recorded in Gothic), prefixed to terms of relationship (as son, father, brother) to form designations for the degrees of affinity resulting from the remarriage of a widowed parent, The primitive sense of the word is indicated by the use of OE. stéopbearn, -cild (STEPBAIRN, STEPCHILD) for ‘orphan,’ and by the cognates, OE. ástíeped bereaved, OHG. stiufen (also ar-, bistiufen) to bereave. Etymologically, stepfather (stepmother) might be rendered ‘one who becomes a father (mother) to an orphan,’ and stepson (stepdaughter) ‘an orphan who becomes a son (a daughter)’ by the marriage of the surviving parent. It is uncertain which of these two applications of the prefix is the original one; all branches of Teut. (exc. Gothic) have both, and also the extended use in stepbrother, stepsister. ON. had shortened forms, stjúpa stepmother, stjúp-r (mod.Icel. stjúpi) stepson. In Du. and LG., and in later Scandinavian, the p of OTeut. *steupo- is anomalously represented by f instead of p. This is prob. not due to HG. influence, but to assimilation to the following f in the compound stepfather (cf. the early ME. form steffadyr). A solitary OE. example of this anomaly occurs in the form stéfdohtor (quot. 912 s.v. STEPDAUGHTER). Occasional forms of the prefix in ME. are stip- (styp-), sti-, ste-, stappe-.
In 1755 Johnson, says that stepmother is the only one of the compounds of step- that has survived in general use. At the present day stepfather is hardly less frequently used, and stepson, -daughter, -child, -brother, -sister are by no means rare, while stepdame occurs in somewhat archaistic language (chiefly fig.). In the 16th and 17th c. a few writers employed the prefix in nonce-formations which would now seem un-English, as step-devil, a term of abhorrence for a stepmother; step-duchess, the stepmother of a duke’s children; step-lord, one who has the position of a lord without the true lord’s affection for his subjects; step-Tully, one who assumes the function of a Cicero. New formations with the prefix, denoting actual relations of affinity, do not appear earlier than the 19th c.; in the latter part of the century they became somewhat common, chiefly as more or less jocular nonce-words, though one or two of them, as step-nephew, niece, have obtained some currency in serious use. The older compounds of step- are in this Dictionary treated as main words; the following examples illustrate the extended applications of the prefix from the 16th c. onwards.
1549. Latimer, 7th Serm. bef. Edw. IV. (Arb.), 39. You landelordes, you rentreisers, I maye saye you steplordes, you vnnaturall lordes, you haue for your possessions yerely to much.
1593. G. Harvey, Pierce’s Super., Wks. (Grosart), II. 74. His betters will neuer pen such a peec of Latin, whosoeuer wer the Stepp-Tully.
1607. Tourneur, Rev. Trag., I. ii. Was’t euer knowne step-Dutchesse was so milde.
1633. Costlie Whore, IV. iii. in Bullen, O. Pl., IV. 283. Oh she was vertuous,… But this step-divell doth promise our fall.
1812. Miss L. M. Hawkins, C’tess & Gertr., I. 244. Mr. Sterling, the step-uncle to the countess.
1825–9. Mrs. Sherwood, Lady of Mayor, V. xxxii. 349. ‘And I am heartily glad of it,’ said the old man…. ‘I am much mistaken, if, after all, the step-lady [sc. a stepmother] will not prove the best friend.’
1839. Burgon, Life Sir T. Gresham, II. vii. 400. Her maternal step-grandmother.
1852. Miss Sewell, Exp. Life, xi. (1858), 84. She is a step-niece of Major Colston.
1868. L. H. Morgan, Syst. Consanguinity (1870), 482. Since the step-relationships are not discriminated they fall into the category of sons and daughters.
1876. Mrs. Whitney, Sights & Insights, ii. She is also my cousin; that is, my step-cousin.
1895. Black, Briseis, ii. I never know what that excellent step-papa of mine may be up to.
1898. Westm. Gaz., 5 Sept., 8/2. Mrs. Neale, step-granddaughter of the wife of Lord Nelson.
1900. Mary E. Wilkins, Love of Parson Lord, 40. Richard Pierce, the squire’s step-grandson.
1904. Westm. Gaz., 4 Jan., 3/2. The step-sisters and step-aunts.
1905. R. Bagot, Passport, vii. 69. It had amused him to address no small part of his conversation to his step-niece during these little dinners.
