Old English · adverb
hwene
- Part of speech
- adverb
- IPA
- /ˈxweː.ne/[ˈʍeː.ne]
- Syllables
- ˈxweː · ne (2 syllables)
- Modern English
- wheena littlesomewhat
Meaning
-
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
Syxtig míla brád, oþþe hwéne brádre, Ors. 1
S. 18, 31.Þæt is tó heriaune hwéne rihtlícor, Bt. 14
F. 46, 13.Hwéne æfter hé cuið
Past. 99, 14.
Attested in Bēowulf
1 line of the poem · read it
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