andgiet

Old English[edit]

Derived from onġietan (“to understand or perceive”), earlier *andġetan.

andġiet n

understanding, intellect
knowledge, cognizance, perception
sense, meaning
- c. 992, Ælfric, "Midlent Sunday"
  On ōðre wīsan wē sċēawiaþ mētinge and on ōðre wīsan stafas. Ne gǣþ nā māre tō mētinge būtan þæt þū hit ġesēo and herie. Nis nā ġenōg þæt þū stafas sċēawiġe būtan þū hīe ēac rǣde and þæt andġiet understande.
  We look at pictures in one way and letters in another. You don't do anything with a painting except see it and praise it. Looking at letters is not enough unless you also read them and understand the meaning.
one of the five senses
plan, purpose

In King Alfred's Early West Saxon, the word for a sense as in "a means of perception" is ġewitt and the five senses are ġesihþ (“sight”), ġehīernes (“hearing”), stenċ (“smell”), swæcc (“taste”), and hrīning (“touch”). Ælfric, writing in Late West Saxon, gives the word for a sense as andġiet and the five senses as ġesihþ, hlyst, swæcc, stenċ, and hrepung.

Declension of andgiet (strong a-stem)