eldertongue

Old English · verb

belæfan

Normalised belǣfan

Part of speech
verb
Verb class
weak class 1
IPA
/beˈlæː.fɑn/
[beˈlæː.vɑn]
Syllables
be · ˈlæː · fɑn (3 syllables)
Modern English
beleaveremain

Meaning

  1. to be left; remain

    Þæt eahtoðe wīte wæs, þæt gærstapan oferēodon eall þæt land swilċe swā næfre ǣrðan nǣron, ne eft næfre ne ġewurðað; and hī forgnogon swā hwæt swā sē hagol belǣfde, oððe on trēowum oððe on ōðrum wæstmum.

    The eight plague was that locusts overran the entire land as they never had before, and never would again; they gnawed up anything that the hail had left behind, either on trees or on other plants.

    Homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church

Conjugation

Conjugation of belæfan
PresentPast
Indicative
1st singular belǣfebelǣfde
2nd singular belǣfestbelǣfstbelǣfdest
3rd singular belǣfeþbelǣfþbelǣfde
Plural belǣfaþbelǣfdon
Subjunctive
Singular belǣfebelǣfde
Plural belǣfenbelǣfden
Non-finite forms of belæfan
Form
Infinitive belǣfan
Inflected infinitive belǣfenne
Imperative singular belǣf
Imperative plural belǣfaþ
Present participle belǣfende
Past participle belǣfed

All forms (16)

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *bilaibijan, from Proto-Germanic *bilaibijaną. Equivalent to be- + lǣfan.

Descendants

beleave

Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · en.wiktionary.org/wiki/belæfan · CC BY-SA 4.0 licence · Attribution