eldertongue

Old English · noun

hæmed

Normalised hǣmed

Part of speech
noun, neuter
Declension
strong a-stem
IPA
/ˈxæː.med/
[ˈhæː.med]
Syllables
ˈxæː · med (2 syllables)
Modern English
sexcohabitationintercourse

Meaning

  1. sex (intercourse)

    Ġelēaffulle lǣwede menn, þe on rihtum sinsċipe lybbað, āġifað þrītigḟealdne wǣstm gōdra weorca, ġif hī heora æw̄e æfter bōclīcum ġesetnyssum healdað, þæt is, þæt hī for bearnes ġestrēone, on alyfedum tīman, hǣmed begān, and bearneacniġende wīf and mōnaðsēoc forbūgan; and ðonne hēo leng tȳman ne mæġ,̇ ġeswican hī hǣmedes.

    Faithful lay people, who live in righteous marriage, yield thirtyfold fruit of good works, if their marriage follows the biblical decrees; that is, that they have intercourse for the procreation of children at permitted times, and abstain from intercourse with pregnant or menstruating women, and that at the time they can no longer procreate, they cease intercourse.

    Homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church
  2. cohabitation, marriage

Declension

Declension of hæmed
SingularPlural
Nominative hǣmedhǣmdu
Accusative hǣmedhǣmdu
Genitive hǣmdeshǣmda
Dative hǣmdehǣmdum

All forms (6)

Etymology

A substantivised past participle of hǣman; compare ǣled for a similar formation.

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