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
-
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
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | mereswīn | mereswīn |
| Accusative | mereswīn | mereswīn |
| Genitive | mereswīnes | mereswīna |
| Dative | mereswīne | mereswīnum |
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