From Old English to

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From Old English to New English!

• A journey into the ancestry of our beloved
  language

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Words that Survived from Old English

• Many words we use today were taken from Old
  English
• Words that were common then were much more likely
  to be carried through to the present
• For verbs, it is easiest to see if you imagine
  the word without its initial a- prefix and -an or
  -ian ending

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Verbs

• a-bacan - to bake
• a-barian - to uncover/strip (bare oneself)
• a-baernan - to cause something to burn, destroy
  something by fire
• a-beatan - to beat, strike to knock out (teeth)
• a-belgan - to swell, make oneself larger
• a-beran - to carry/bear (someone, something)
• a-berstan - to burst to break apart
• a-biddan - to ask for, request, demand to ask
  for (someone, something)
• a-bitan - to bite, rend, tear with the teeth
  (someone, something)
• a-blawan - (of a person) to blow, breathe out
• ablawan uppan - to breathe upon
• a-brecan - to break (something) apart, asunder,
  into pieces
• a-clensian - to cleanse, free (something) from
  dirt or filth to purify
• a-clingan - to cling together

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More Verbs

• a-cursian - to curse, malign (someone)
• a-dredan - to dread, fear
• a-drincan - to drink
• a-findan - to find, come upon by chance, discover
• a-fyllan - to fill (something) to fill up, make
  full
• a-hangian - to hang (in crucifixion)
• a-metan - to measure, measure out
• a-redian - to make ready, prepare, arrange
  (affairs, matters, etc.)
• a-sincan - to sink down
• a-seowan - to sew, stitch embroider with a
  needle
• a-singan - to sing (a song) through to its end
  (?)
• a-sittan - to sit up/upright
• a-spendan - to spend, spend entirely, expend
  (goods, wealth, etc.)
• a-spinnan - to spin (thread)
• a-spurnan - to cast down (one who is cast down,
  ruined, defeated)

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Even More Verbs

• A-stifian - to become stiff, rigid, unable to
  move to stiffen
• earnian - to earn
• etan - to eat

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Other Parts of Speech

• abbod - Abbot, spiritual and administrative
  leader of a monastery
• ambrosie - the plant ambrosia
• baptista - baptist, one who baptizes (as title of
  John the Baptist)
• baer - naked, unclothed (especially of the body),
  bare
• beard - beard
• bedding - bedding bed
• deaf - deaf
• dea? - the state of being dead (death)
• dile - the herb dill
• disciplin - discipline
• eall - denoting the total number of entities in a
  group all
• eastre - Easter, Eastertide
• east-wind - east wind
• efen - even, equal of a surface even, level,
  flat
• flint - (a kind of) hard stone or rock used to
  produce flame
• for? - forwards in movement or direction
• fyst - fist

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Funny Other Parts of Speech

• assa - ass, donkey (refers to either sex)
• bastard - bastard, the byname of William the
  Conqueror
• druncen - drunken, intoxicated
• ear - ear (of grain), seed-bearing head or spike
  of cereal grass
• ears - arse
• earsode - having an arse (assed, i.e. half-assed)

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Words that Did Not Make the Cut

• Abbodesse - in phrases referring to the office of
  the abbess
• abecede - an ABC, the alphabet
• a-beteon - to reproach, accuse
• a-bifian - to tremble, shake
• a-blindian - to become blind (note NOT to
  blind)
• a-breotan - to kill (someone), destroy
  (something)
• a-spillan - to kill
• assen - she-ass
• be-dician - to surround with a ditch or
  embankment
• be-digling - secret place
• dagian - to dawn, become day
• deorfan - to work, labor
• dry - magician, sorcerer, soothsayer (possible
  root for Druid)
• ead - happiness, well-being
• eft - again, another time
• ell - other

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Interesting Parallels (?)

• A-blacian - to turn pale (of the face or body)
  to grow dim (of shiny things)
• a-blecan - to whiten, make white
• a-blissian - to make glad, please
• acordan - to agree, reconcile to come to an
  agreement
• a-deadian - to die (of the body and its parts)
• a-deafian - to grow deaf, become deaf (NOT to
  deafen)
• a-delfan - to dig (something)
• a-hwider - to any place, in any direction
  anywhere
• a-hwidere - to somewhere else, in another
  direction
• a-hwistlian - to speak indistinctly
• a-pyffan - to breath out, exhale (a breath)
• beadu - battle, conflict
• bealdnes - boldness, courage, valour
• bedd-rida - bedridden, paralytic
• byr?ere - child-bearing woman, mother
• forstig - frosty

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THE ENDE