eldertongue

Old English · adverb

hwene

Part of speech
adverb
IPA
/ˈxweː.ne/
[ˈʍeː.ne]
Syllables
ˈxweː · ne (2 syllables)
Modern English
wheena littlesomewhat

Meaning

  1. a little, somewhat

    On þǣm mōrum eardiað Finnas; and þæt bȳne land is ēasteweard brādost, and symle swā norðor swā smælre. Ēastewerd hit mæġ bīon syxtiġ mīla brād, oþþe hwēne brǣdre; and middeweard þritiġ oððe brādre; and norðeweard, hē cwæð, þǣr hit smalost wǣre, þæt hit mihte bēon þrēora mīla brād tō þǣm mōre; and sē mōr syðþan, on sumum stōwum, swā brād swā man mæġ on twām wucum ofe

    Finns dwell on the moors; and that inhabited land is widest in the east, and always smaller farther north. In the east it can be sixty miles wide, or a bit wider; and in the middle, thirty miles or broader; and in the north, he said, where it was smallest, it might be three miles across to the moor; and the moor, in some places, is as wide as a man can cross in two weeks; and in some places, as br

    Voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan

Etymology

Likely a fossilized instrumental case form of hwōn

Descendants

wheen

Historical citations

  1. Syxtig míla brád, oþþe hwéne brádre, Ors. 1

    S. 18, 31.
  2. Þæt is tó heriaune hwéne rihtlícor, Bt. 14

    F. 46, 13.
  3. Hwéne æfter hé cuið

    Past. 99, 14.

Attested in Bēowulf

hwēne · 2700

1 line of the poem · read it

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