betan

Meaning

1. to improve

   Þā þing þe hē unfulfremed ġemētte, mid heora fultume hē þā rihte and bētte.

   Anything that was imperfect when he found it, he set right and improved with their help.

   c. 900, translation of Bede's Ecclesiastical History

2. to fix, repair

   Uton lufian ūre ċirican, for þon hēo biþ ūre friðiġend and werġend on Dōmes Dæġe. And wyrċen wē simle bryċġe and þā bētan.

   Let’s love our church, because it will be our defender and protector at the Last Judgment. And let’s always build bridges and repair them.

   early 11th century, Wulfstan, "Larspell"

3. to atone or compensate for

   c. 899, Alfred the Great, Psalm 36:9

   Those who do evil and do not atone for it will be uprooted from the earth.

4. to make or attend to a fire or a lamp

   Sume nihte, þā þā hē wel ǣr ārās tō bētenne þā lēoht þe wǣron nēah þǣre dura, and þā stōd hē on triewenre hlǣdre under þām lēohtfæte and ontende and ġebētte þæt lēoht, þā stōd þǣr ofdūne on þǣre flōre sanctus Petrus sē ēadega apostol on hwītum hræġlum, and þus cwæþ tō him, "Þū ġefēra, for hwon ārise þū swā hraðe?"

   One night, when he had gotten up very early to kindle the lights near the door, and he was standing on a wooden ladder under the lamp to light the fire, down there on the floor stood Saint Peter the apostle dressed in white, and he said to him, "Comrade, why did you get up so early?"

   c. 900, Werferth, translation of the Dialogues of Gregory

Conjugation