onweg gan

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *in weg gān; note that in was regularly replaced with on during the separate prehistory of Old English, specifically in the West Saxon dialect. Cognate with Dutch weggaan and German weggehen.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /onˈwej ˌɡɑːn/

Verb

onweġ gān

1. to go away
   • c. 992, Ælfric, "St. Benedict, Abbot"

     Sē ēadega wer cwæþ tō his ġebrōðrum, "Gāþ onweġ! Nis þis nā ūru dǣd, ac is þāra hālgena apostola."

     The blessed man told his brothers, "Go away! This [resurrecting a dead body] isn't something we do, it's an act of the holy apostles."

Conjugation

See gān.

Descendants

• Middle English: go awey
  • English: go away