wesan

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Old Dutch

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Etymology

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From Proto-West Germanic *wesan, from Proto-Germanic *wesaną, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wes-.

Verb

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wesan

  1. to be

Conjugation

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Conjugation of wesan, sīn (irregular suppletive)
infinitive wesan, sīn
indicative present past
1st person singular bim, bin was
2nd person singular bis, bist wāri
3rd person singular is, ist was
1st person plural sīn wārun
2nd person plural sīt wārut
3rd person plural sint, sīn wārun
subjunctive present past
1st person singular sī wāri
2nd person singular sīs, sīst wāris, wārist
3rd person singular sī wāri
1st person plural sīn wārin
2nd person plural sīt wārit
3rd person plural sīn wārin
imperative present
singular wis
plural wisit
participle present past
wesandi giwesan

Descendants

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  • Middle Dutch: wēsen
    • Dutch: wezen
      • Afrikaans: wees
      • Jersey Dutch: wêze
      • Negerhollands: wees, wis
    • Limburgish: waeze

Further reading

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  • “wesan”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012

Old English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology 1

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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.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈwe.sɑn/, [ˈwe.zɑn]

Verb

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wesan

  1. to be, exist
    • late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of The Consolation of Philosophy
      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."
    • c. 990, Wessex Gospels, John 9:12
      Þā cwǣdon hīe tō him, "Hwǣr is hē?" Þā cwæþ hē, "Iċ nāt."
      Then they said to him, "Where is he?" And he said, "I don't know."
Usage notes
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  • The verbs bēon and wesan both mean to be, but in different circumstances. For most purposes, wesan is used; bēon is used for what is known as the "gnomic present" and the future tense of to be.
    • The gnomic present, in short, refers to anything which is a general truth, like Winter biþ ċealdost ("Winter is coldest"), or Fēower sīðum seofon bēoþ eahta and twēntiġ ("Four times seven is (lit. "are") twenty-eight"). Generally, statements about the self will not be gnomic. For example, although it may seem that a statement like I am a person is always true, such a statement is nonetheless rendered with wesan: Iċ eom mann.
    • To be is the only verb in Old English for which the future tense may be indicated with morphology instead of adverbs or context clues, and for this purpose, bēon is used. So, I am the king is rendered as Iċ eom sē cyning, but I will be the king is rendered as Iċ bēo sē cyning. Note that bēon is not used for any other verb's future tense; both I see it and I will see it are written as Iċ hit ġesēo.
    • Both bēon and wesan share past tense forms.
  • Both bēon and wesan are copulative verbs, which means they are not transitive and do not take a direct object. Because of this, predicate nouns and adjectives will be in the nominative case. For example: Hēo is iċ ("She is I"), not *Hēo is mē ("She is me").
  • In the Anglian dialects, the present plural indicative form earon occurred alongside the sind/sindon forms. This may have been due to influence or loaning from the Old Norse cognate vera/vesa, or it may be an earlier native form that was lost entirely in the southern dialects.
  • A regularised present plural indicative form wesaþ is also attested a few times. This hypercorrect form may have been influenced by the imperative plural (which was identical to the present plural indicative in typical strong and weak verbs), or perhaps the infinitive.
Conjugation
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Conjugation of wesan (irregular)
infinitive wesan wesenne
indicative mood present tense past tense
first person singular eom wæs
second person singular eart wǣre
third person singular is wæs
plural sind, sindon wǣron
subjunctive present tense past tense
singular sīe wǣre
plural sīen wǣren
imperative
singular wes
plural wesaþ
participle present past
wesende —
Synonyms
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Derived terms
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Etymology 2

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From Proto-West Germanic *wesan, from Proto-Germanic *wesaną (“to consume, feast”), derived from Proto-Indo-European *wes- (“to graze”).[1] The only (possible) attestation is in the form weaxan in line 3115 of Beowulf, argued to be a misspelling of weosan.[2]

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈwe.sɑn/, [ˈwe.zɑn]

Verb

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wesan

  1. to consume or feast
    • c. 975–1025, Beowulf (Cotton MS Vitellius A XV)‎[2], published 4th quarter 10th century–2nd half 16th century, lines 3114-15:
      "Nū sceal glēd fretan (weaxan wonna lēg) ⁠wigena strengel [...]"
      “Fire shall devour (and wan flames feed) on the fearless warrior [...]"
Usage notes
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  • The precise verb class is unknown. It is shown here according to what would be its etymologically inherited form, a class 5 strong verb.
Conjugation
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Conjugation of wesan (strong class 5)
infinitive wesan wesenne
indicative mood present tense past tense
first person singular wese wæs
second person singular wist wǣre
third person singular wist wæs
plural wesaþ wǣron
subjunctive present tense past tense
singular wese wǣre
plural wesen wǣren
imperative
singular wes
plural wesaþ
participle present past
wesende (ġe)weren
Descendants
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  • >? Middle English: wesen (“to tend flocks, pasture”)

Etymology 3

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

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈweː.sɑn/, [ˈweː.zɑn]

Verb

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wēsan

  1. to soak; to macerate; to dye
  2. to ooze
Conjugation
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Conjugation of wēsan (weak class 1)
infinitive wēsan wēsenne
indicative mood present tense past tense
first person singular wēse wēsde
second person singular wēsest, wēst wēsdest
third person singular wēseþ, wēst wēsde
plural wēsaþ wēsdon
subjunctive present tense past tense
singular wēse wēsde
plural wēsen wēsden
imperative
singular wēs
plural wēsaþ
participle present past
wēsende (ġe)wēsed
Derived terms
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Descendants
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Further reading

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References

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  1. ^ Guus Kroonen (2013) “Wesan- 2”, in Alexander Lubotsky, editor, Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11)‎[1], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN
  2. ^ Seebold, Elmar (1970) “WES-A- 2”, in Vergleichendes und etymologisches Wörterbuch der germanischen starken Verben (Janua Linguarum. Series practica; 85) (in German), Paris, Den Haag: Mouton, →ISBN: “562-63”

Old High German

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Alternative forms

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  • sīn (less common infinitive, but became common over time)

Etymology

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From Proto-West Germanic *wesan, from Proto-Germanic *wesaną, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wes-.

Verb

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type=irreg
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wesan

  1. to be, exist

Conjugation

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Conjugation of wesan (irregular, suppletive)
infinitive wesan
indicative present past
1st person singular bim, bin was
2nd person singular bist, bis wāri
3rd person singular ist was
1st person plural birum, birun wārum, wārumēs
2nd person plural birut wārut
3rd person plural sint wārun
subjunctive present past
1st person singular sī wāri
2nd person singular sīs, sīst wārīs, wārīst
3rd person singular sī wāri
1st person plural sīn wārīm, wārīmēs
2nd person plural sīt wārīt
3rd person plural sīn wārīn
imperative present
singular wis
plural wesit
participle present past
wesanti giwesan

Derived terms

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Descendants

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Old Saxon

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Etymology

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From Proto-West Germanic *wesan, from Proto-Germanic *wesaną, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wes-. The forms in b- derive from Proto-Germanic *beuną (“to be, exist, become”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- (“to grow, become, appear”).

Verb

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wesan

  1. to be

Conjugation

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Conjugation of wesan (irregular, suppletive)
infinitive wesan
indicative present past
1st person singular bium, biun, bion was
2nd person singular bist, bis *wāri
3rd person singular ist, is was
plural sind, sindun, sindon, sundon wārun
subjunctive present past
1st person singular sī wāri
2nd person singular sīs wāris
3rd person singular sī, wese wāri
plural sīn wārin
imperative present
singular wes, wis
plural wesad, wesat, wesath
participle present past
wesandi giwesan

Synonyms

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  • sīn (rare infinitive)

Descendants

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Tok Pisin

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Etymology

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From English white sand.

Noun

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wesan

  1. sand
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