gewitt
Old English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Proto-West Germanic *gawiti. Cognate with Old Saxon giwitt and Old High German giwizzi. Equivalent to ġe- + witt.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]ġewitt n
- wits, senses, (right) mind
- a sense
- knowledge, understanding, consciousness
- the conscience
Usage notes
[edit]- In King Alfred's Early West Saxon, the word for a sense 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.