eldertongue

Old English · verb

wesan

Normalised wēsan

Part of speech
verb
Verb class
weak class 1
IPA
/ˈweː.sɑn/
[ˈweː.zɑn]
Syllables
ˈweː · sɑn (2 syllables)
Modern English
weezemaceratesoakexistconsumeooze

wesan1 · verb

Senses

  1. to soak; to macerate; to dye

  2. to ooze

Conjugation

Conjugation of wesan
PresentPast
Indicative
1st singular wēsewēsde
2nd singular wēsestwēstwēsdest
3rd singular wēseþwēstwēsde
Plural wēsaþwēsdon
Subjunctive
Singular wēsewēsde
Plural wēsenwēsden
Non-finite forms of wesan
Form
Infinitive wēsan
Inflected infinitive wēsenne
Imperative singular wēs
Imperative plural wēsaþ
Present participle wēsende
Past participle wēsedġewēsed

wesan2 · verb

Senses

  1. to be, exist

    Þā cwæþ hē, "Wāst þū hwæt mann sīe?" Þā cwæþ iċ, "Iċ wāt þæt hit biþ sāwol and līchama."

    Then he said, "Do you know what a person is?" So I said, "I know it's a soul and a body."

    late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of The Consolation of Philosophy

Conjugation

Conjugation of wesan
PresentPast
Indicative
1st singular eomwæs
2nd singular eartwǣre
3rd singular iswæs
Plural sindsindonwǣron
Subjunctive
Singular sīewǣre
Plural sīenwǣren
Non-finite forms of wesan
Form
Infinitive wesan
Inflected infinitive wesenne
Imperative singular wes
Imperative plural wesaþ
Present participle wesende

wesan3 · verb

Senses

  1. to consume or feast

    "Nū sceal glēd fretan (weaxan wonna lēg) ⁠wigena strengel [...]"

    “Fire shall devour (and wan flames feed) on the fearless warrior …"

    c. 1000, Beowulf (Cotton MS Vitellius A XV), lines 3114-15:

Conjugation

Conjugation of wesan
PresentPast
Indicative
1st singular wesewæs
2nd singular wistwǣre
3rd singular wistwæs
Plural wesaþwǣron
Subjunctive
Singular wesewǣre
Plural wesenwǣren
Non-finite forms of wesan
Form
Infinitive wesan
Inflected infinitive wesenne
Imperative singular wes
Imperative plural wesaþ
Present participle wesende
Past participle werenġeweren

All forms (37)

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *wōsijan, from Proto-Germanic *wōsijaną, from *wōsą.

From Proto-West Germanic *wesan, from Proto-Germanic *wesaną, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wes-. The simple present forms originate from Proto-Indo-European *h₁es- (“to be”), which had no infinitive or past tense in Proto-Germanic, but had already formed a single paradigm with *wesaną supplying the infinitive and past tense.

From Proto-West Germanic *wesan, from Proto-Germanic *wesaną (“to consume, feast”), derived from Proto-Indo-European *wes- (“to graze”). The only (possible) attestation is in the form weaxan in line 3115 of Beowulf, argued to be a misspelling of weosan.

Descendants

weeze

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