Old English · noun

fæmne

Normalised fǣmne

Part of speech: noun, feminine
Declension: weak n-stem
IPA: /ˈfæːm.ne/
Syllables: ˈfæːm · ne (2 syllables)
Modern English: virgin

Meaning

virgin
young woman

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:

Declension

Declension of fæmne
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	fǣmne	fǣmnan
Accusative	fǣmnan	fǣmnan
Genitive	fǣmnan	fǣmnena
Dative	fǣmnan	fǣmnum

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *faimnijā (“girl”), related to (but not directly cognate with) Old Saxon fēmea, fēhmia, West Frisian faam, Icelandic feima (“maiden”). Unrelated to Latin fēmina (“female, woman”), and probably also to Latin famula (“female servant”).

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