Old English · noun

maþm

Normalised māþm

Part of speech: noun, masculine
Declension: strong a-stem
IPA: /mɑːθm/
[mɑːðm]
Syllables: mɑːθm (1 syllable)
Modern English: mathom precious object valuable

Meaning

precious object: treasure, jewel, valuable

Þēah þe græf wille · golde strēġan / brōþor his ġeborenum, · byrġan be dēadum, / māþmum mislīċum · þæt hine mid wille, / ne mæġ þǣre sāwle · þe biþ synna ful / gold tō ġēoce · for godes eġsan, / þonne hē hit ǣr hȳdeð · þenden hē hēr leofað.

Even if a brother would like to strew gold on grave for his kinsmen, to bury next to the dead with manifold riches that he would like to have with him, gold cannot be a help for this soul, who is full of sins, before the dread of God, after he first hides it while he lives here.
10th century, The Seafarer:

Declension

Declension of maþm
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	māþm	māþmas
Accusative	māþm	māþmas
Genitive	māþmes	māþma
Dative	māþme	māþmum

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *maiþmaz, from Proto-Indo-European *moyth₂mos, from *meyth₂- (“to exchange”). Cognate with Old Saxon mēðom, Old Norse meiðmar pl (“valuables”), Gothic (maiþms). The Proto-Indo-European root is also the source of Latin mūtāre (“to exchange”).

Descendants

mathom

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