Old English · verb
dufan
Normalised dūfan
- Part of speech
- verb
- Verb class
- strong class II
- IPA
- /ˈduː.fɑn/[ˈduː.vɑn]
- Syllables
- ˈduː · fɑn (2 syllables)
- Modern English
- divesink
Meaning
-
to dive, sink
Iċ wæs fǣmne ġeong, feaxhār cwene, ond ǣnlīċ rinċ on āne tīd; flēah mid fuglum ond on flōde swom, dēaf under ȳþe, dēad mid fiscum, ond on foldan stōp, hæfde forð cwicu.
I was a young maiden, a grey-haired lady, and alone fighter at one time; flew with birds and swam on a tide, dove under waves, dead among fishes, and stepped on earth, kept alive forwards.
c. 980, Exeter Book Riddle 74:
Conjugation
All forms (15)
Etymology
From Proto-West Germanic *dūban, from Proto-Germanic *dūbaną (“to dive, sink”).
Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dufan · CC BY-SA 4.0 licence · Attribution