wesan

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

wesan

1. to be

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

• “wesan”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012

• weosan, wesa, wosa, uosa, wossa, uossa

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.

• IPA^(key): /ˈwe.sɑn/, [ˈwe.zɑn]

wesan (third person plural simple earon)

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."

   • 10-11th c., Beowulf, lines 1074-1081

     Wit þæt ġecwǣdon, cniht wesende, and ġebēotedon, wǣron beġen þā ġit on ġeogoðfeore, þæt wit on gārsecg ūt aldrum nēðdon, and þæt ġeæfndon swā.

     We agreed, being striplings, and promised, (we were both yet in youthful life,) that we on the ocean out our lives would venture, and that we thus accomplish'd.

The verb “to be” in Old English was suppletive, and used forms from at least three different roots. There were two distinct present stems, for which wesan and bēon were the two infinitive forms. The present bēon was used to express permanent truths (the “gnomic present”), while wesan was used for the imperative, present participle, and the preterite. They shared the same past tense forms.

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.

• bēon

• ætwesan (“to be present”)
• forewesan (“to be before”)
• ġewesan (“to be together”)
• wist (“being”)

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]

• IPA^(key): /ˈwe.sɑn/, [ˈwe.zɑn]

wesan

1. to consume or feast
   • c. 975–1025, Beowulf (Cotton MS Vitellius A XV)‎, 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 [...]"

• The precise verb class is unknown. It is shown here according to what would be its etymologically inherited form, a class 5 strong verb.

• >? Middle English: wesen (“to tend flocks, pasture”)

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈweː.sɑn/, [ˈweː.zɑn]

wēsan

1. to soak; to macerate; to dye
2. to ooze

• John R. Clark Hall (1916) “wesan”, in A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary‎, 2nd edition, New York: Macmillan, page 350
• Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller (1898) “wesan”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary‎, 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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

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

type=irreg

wesan

1. to be, exist

• giwesan (past participle) (in some descendants, the strong -en ending was replaced by the weak -t ending, or elided)
  • Central Franconian: jewäs
  • Cimbrian: gabéest, gebest
  • German: gewesen
  • Hunsrik: gewees, geweest
  • Luxembourgish: gewiescht
  • Pennsylvania German: gewest

• Middle High German: wësen
  • Alemannic German: si, sii, siin, sinh, ŝchi

    Swabian:

  • Bavarian: sain

    Cimbrian: sain, soin, zèinan

    Mòcheno: sai'

    Northern Bavarian: [z̥ai̯]

  • Central Franconian: sein, senn, sinn

    Hunsrik: sin

    Luxembourgish: sinn

  • East Central German:

    Erzgebirgisch: [saɪ]

    Upper Saxon German:

    Vilamovian: zajn

  • East Franconian:
  • German: sein (all forms); Wesen
  • Rhine Franconian: sei, senn, sinn

    Frankfurterisch: [sɑ̃ɪ]

    Pennsylvania German: sei

  • Yiddish: זײַן (zayn)

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”).

wesan

1. to be

• sīn (rare infinitive)

• Middle Low German: wēsen
  • Dutch Low Saxon: waen
  • German Low German: wesen, ween

From English white sand.

wesan

1. sand

• nambis