eldertongue

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

  1. 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

Conjugation of dufan
PresentPast
Indicative
1st singular dūfedēaf
2nd singular dȳfstdufe
3rd singular dȳfþdēaf
Plural dūfaþdufon
Subjunctive
Singular dūfedufe
Plural dūfendufen
Non-finite forms of dufan
Form
Infinitive dūfan
Inflected infinitive dūfenne
Imperative singular dūf
Imperative plural dūfaþ
Present participle dūfende
Past participle dofenġedofen

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