eldertongue

Old English · noun

mereswin

Normalised mereswīn

Part of speech
noun, neuter
Declension
strong a-stem
IPA
/ˈme.reˌswiːn/
Syllables
ˈme · re · ˌswiːn (3 syllables)
Modern English
dolphinmereswineporpoise

Meaning

  1. dolphin or porpoise

    Swylċe ēac þēos eorþe is berende missenlīcra fugela ⁊ sǣwihta ⁊ hēr bēoþ oft fanġene seolas ⁊ hronas and mereswȳn; ⁊ hēr bēoþ oft numene missenlīcra cynna weolcsċylle ⁊ muscule, ⁊ on þām oft ġemette þā betstan meregrotan ǣlces hīwes.

    This land also bears various birds and sea creatures, and seals, porpoises, and dolphins are often caught here; and various kinds of mussels and shellfish are often taken, and in them the best pearls of every color are often found.

    late 9th century, translation of Bede's Ecclesiastical History

Declension

Declension of mereswin
SingularPlural
Nominative mereswīnmereswīn
Accusative mereswīnmereswīn
Genitive mereswīnesmereswīna
Dative mereswīnemereswīnum

All forms (5)

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *mariswīn. Equivalent to mere (“sea”) + swīn (“pig”). Cognate with Old Saxon meriswīn.

Descendants

mereswine

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