Old English · verb

læccan

Normalised læċċan

Part of speech: verb
Verb class: weak class 1
IPA: /ˈlæt.t͡ʃɑn/
Syllables: ˈlæt · t͡ʃɑn (2 syllables)
Modern English: apprehend latch snatch grab

Meaning

to grab (sometimes violently: snatch, catch, apprehend)

Ōsrēd, þe wæs Norþanhymbra cining, æfter wræcsīþe hām cumenum ġelǣht wæs ⁊ ofslagen on XVIII Kƚ Octoƀ ⁊ his līc liġþ æt Tīnamūþe. ⁊ Æþelrēd cining feng tō nīwan wīfe, sēo wæs Ælflēd ġehāten, on III Kƚ Octobr̃.

Osred, who was king of Northumbria, was apprehended and slain on the 17th of October after coming home from his foreign travels, and his body lies at Tynemouth. And King Aethelred took a new wife, whose name was Aelfled, on the third of October.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

Conjugation

Conjugation of læccan
Indicative
	Present	Past
1st singular	læċċe	lǣhte
2nd singular	læċest	lǣhtest
3rd singular	læċeþ	lǣhte
Plural	læċċaþ	lǣhton
Subjunctive
Singular	læċċe	lǣhte
Plural	læċċen	lǣhten

Non-finite forms of læccan
	Form
Infinitive	læċċan
Inflected infinitive	læċċenne
Imperative singular	læċe
Imperative plural	læċċaþ
Present participle	læċċende
Past participle	lǣht ġelǣht

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *lakkjan (“to seize”), from Proto-Germanic *lakjaną (“to grasp, seize”), evidently only attested in Old English, from Proto-Indo-European *lh₂g-ie-, which could be an isogloss shared with Ancient Greek λάζομαι (lázomai, “I seize, grasp”).

Descendants

latch

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