Bosworth Toller's

Anglo-Saxon

Dictionary online

BÝSEN

(n.)
Grammar
BÝSEN, bísen, býsn, e; f.
Entry preview:

War. 13, 6. a command, precept, admonition; mandatum, præceptum, admonitio Ic gelýfe ðæt hit from Gode cóme, broht from his býsene I believe that it came from God, brought by his command, Cd. 32; Th. 42, 29; Gen. 680.

Linked entries: bísen bigsen bísen

blis

(n.)
Grammar
blis, bliss, blys, blyss, e; f. [contracted from blíþs, q. v. ]

BLISS, joy, gladness, exultation, pleasurelætitia, gaudium, exultatio, beatitasfriendship, kindness, benevolence, gracecomitas, benignitas, benevolentia, gratia

Entry preview:

Ðanon com ǽrest cristendóm and blis fór Gode and fór worulde whence first came christianity and joy before God and before the world, Chr. 1011; Erl. 146, 22. Ðú eart blis mín tu es exultatio mea, Ps. Spl. 31, 9.

Linked entry: blíþs

ÆT

(prep.)
Grammar
ÆT, prep.

ATtobeforenextwithinforagainstapudjuxtapropeanteadincontraOffromaabdeTountoas far asadusquead

Entry preview:

Ge ne cómon æt me ye came not to me, Mt. Bos. 25, 43. Æt selde before the throne, Cd. 228; Th. 306, 12; Sat. 663. Ic áre æt him fínde I may find honour with them, Exon. 67a; Th. 247, 19; Jul. 81.

féða

(n.)
Grammar
féða, an; m.

a band on footinfantrya hosttrooptribecompanyphălanx pĕdestrispĕditeslĕgioăciestrĭbuscătervaa battlepugna

Entry preview:

Se féða com up to earde the company came up to their home, 223; Th. 293, 19; Sae. 457.

Linked entry: féðu

wer

(n.)
Grammar
wer, es; m.
Entry preview:

Terram cum omnibus ad se pertinentibus rebus necessariis hoc est, in siluis, in campis, in captura etiam piscium quae terrae illi adjacet, ubi sunt scilicet duo quod nostratim dicitur waeres, Cod. Dip. Kmbl. i. 64, 10.

geond-geótan

(v.)
Entry preview:

Gl. 408, 19) diffundunt (densos exercitos per campos), An. Ox. 91. <b>II a.</b> to spread (intrans.) over :-- Sped geondgýt (gend-, Hpt. Gl. 447, 24) glaucoma suffundit, An.

toft

(n.)

a piece of ground, messuage, homesteada place marked out for a house or buildinga square piece of ground with walls but without roofan enclosed home-fieldcampusan elevated piece of grounda field where a house or building once stood.

Entry preview:

Parv, toft renders campus; in Piers Plowman it means an elevated piece of ground: I seign a toure on a toft, Prol. 14; while later, according to Kenuett, it is 'a field where a house or building once stood.'

simble

(adv.)
Grammar
simble, symble, simle, siemle, semle, symle ; adv.
Entry preview:

Symble gefégon burhweardes cyme they rejoiced whenever he came, Andr. Kmbl. 1318 ; An. 659. Ðú simle mǽnst, gif ðé ǽnies willan wana biþ, Bt. 11, 1 ; Fox 30, 21.

Linked entries: symble symle

síþ-fæt

(n.)
Grammar
síþ-fæt, es ;
Entry preview:

Ðá wæs æfter síþfate ðæt mægen on him weóx in course of time it came to pass that strength grew in him, Guthl. 2 ; Gdwin. 12, 25

Linked entry: fæt

sumer-lida

(n.)
Grammar
sumer-lida, an; m. [Lida, like the equivalent Icel. liði in sumar-liði, elsewhere refers to a single object, man or ship (v. lida, sǽ-, ýð-lida), but in the passage given below from the Chronicle seems to mean a fleet. Later in the same work liþ (q. v.), which seems taken from the Scandinavians, is used in this sense, e. g. ðæt lið ðæt on Sandwíc læg, 1052; Erl. 183, 40, can sumer-lida be intended to represent Norse sumar-lið? In one other place sumer-lida occurs, in company with words relating to the sea, and it there glosses malleolus; but here perhaps sumer-loda should be read, and malleolus be taken in the sense shoot, twig (see spæc); cf. O. H. Ger. sumar-lota, -lata virgultum, palmes. v. Anglia xiii. 330.]
Entry preview:

A summer fleet, one that sets forth in summer and returns in autumn Æfter ðissum gefeohte cuom micel sumorlida (tó Reádingum, MS. E.), Chr. 871; Erl. 74, 35. [Steenstrup takes the word to mean a force moving from its quarters in England, and leaving

A

(prefix)
Grammar
A, A. It is not necessary to speak of the form of what are often called Anglo-Saxon letters, as all Teutonic, Celtic, and Latin manuscripts of the same age are written in letters of the same form. There is one exception: the Anglo-Saxons had, with great propriety, two different letters for the two distinct sounds of our th: the hard þ in thin and sooth, and the soft ð in thine and soo
Entry preview:

&mdash;Camp, lamb, plante, dranc, lang, etc.

for-

(prefix)
Grammar
for-, is used in composition in Anglo-Saxon exactly as the English for: it often deteriorates, or gives an opposite sense, or gives strength to the words before which it is placed; in which case it may be compared with Gothic fra-, Dutch and German ver- [different from the Dutch voor, and German vor]. Forbeódan to forbid; fordéman to condemn; forcúþ perverse, corrupt; fordón to destroy, to do for. — Sometimes fór denotes an increase of the signification of the word before which it is placed, and is then generally to be in English very; valde, as fó;r-eáde very easily,
  • Homl. Th. ii. 138, 35
: fór-oft very often,
  • Bd. de nat. rerum
  • ;
  • Wrt. popl. science 11, 8
  • ;
  • Lchdm. iii. 256, 16.
For- and fór-, or fóre- are often confounded, though they are very different in meaning; as forseón [Flem. versien] to overlook, despise; fór- or fóreseón [Flem. veursien] to foresee. — If a word, having for, fór or fóre prefixed, cannot be found under for-, fór- or fóre-, it must be sought under the simple term, and the sense of the preposition added; thus, fór- or fóre-sendan is from sendan to send, and fór-, fóre before, to send before, etc. [On the vowel in for, fore, see remark in the preface.]

healf

(num.; adj.; adv.)
Grammar
healf, adj.

HALF

Entry preview:

Nán rén ne com ofer eorþan feórþan healfangeáre no rain came upon the earth for three years and a half, Lchdm. iii. 276, 19. Ðæt wæs ehtoþe healf híd that was seven hides and a half, Chart. Th. 550, 12.

Ælfríc

(n.)
Grammar
Ælfríc, es; m. [ælf, ríc]

ÆlfricÆlfricus

Entry preview:

Then went Ælfric to his archiepiscopal see, and when he came thither, he was received by those men in orders, who of all were most distasteful to him, that was, by clerks, Chr. 995; Th. ii. 106, 20-24.

BEÁM

(n.)
Grammar
BEÁM, es; m.

a treearborthe treecrosspatibulumcruxa columnpillarcolumnawooda shiplignumnavisa BEAMsplintposta stock of a treetrabsstipesA ray of lighta sun-BEAMradiusa trumpettuba

Entry preview:

Him befóran fóron beámas twegen two pillars went before him, Cd. 146; Th. 183, 20; Exod. 94. wood, a ship; lignum, navis Ic of fæðmum cwom brimes and beámes I came from the clutches of sea and ship, Exon. 103 b ; Th. 392, 13 ; Rä. 11, 7. a BEAM, splint

Linked entries: Beám-dún wudu beóm

fæsten

firmamentcitadelforta fortificationentrenchmentsfastnessstrongholda prisona sepulchreHellclaustrum

Entry preview:

Hí manige festena and castelas ábrǽcon, Chr. 1094; P. 230, 3. a fortification, entrenchments, fortified camp, place strengthened to resist attack Ðanan eást úp suae ðet ealde(n) fæstan scáðe (as the old earthwork makes a line of separation); andlang

DRÍFAN

(v.)
Grammar
DRÍFAN, drýfan,ic drífe , ðú drífest , drífst , he drífeþ , drífþ , dríft , pl. drífaþ; p. ic, he dráf, ðú drife, pl. drifon, dreofon; pp. drifen .

DRIVE, force, pursue pellĕre, mināre, impellĕre, persĕqui To drive, rush with violence ruĕre

Entry preview:

To drive, rush with violence; ruĕre Ic com mid ðý heáfde and mid handa on ðone stán drífan I came driving on the stone with my head and hands, Bd. 5, 6; S. 619, 23

þicce

(adj.)
Grammar
þicce, adj.
Entry preview:

felde de denso campo, Wrt. Voc. ii. 138, 59. Ðú lǽtst mé on þicne wudu, Bt. 35, 5; Fox 164, 13. On þiccon bearwum, Lchdm. i. 322, 25. Intó ðam wudu ðǽr hé þiccost wæs, Homl. Skt. ii. 30, 31. In ðone þiccestan wudu, Shrn. 118, 16. <b>III a.

grówan

Entry preview:

Geseah hé ánre stówe fæc þám óþrum felda grénre (grówenre, v. l.) uidit unius loci spatium cetero campo uiridius, Bd. 3, 10; Sch. 233, 1. <b>II a.

ealdor

Entry preview:

Nar. 35, 19. a parent, v. ealdor-leás orphan Cóm ǽrest Cam in síðian, eafora Nóes, þǽr his aldor læg, Gen. 1578. Þín aldor thy father, Dan. 754. Se ǽresta ealdor þisses menniscan cynnes Adam, Bl. H. 23, 4.