begripe

English

Etymology

From Middle English begripen, bigripen, from Old English begrīpan (“to grip, seize, lay hold of; chide”), from Proto-Germanic *bigrīpaną, equivalent to be- (“around, about”) +‎ gripe. Cognate with Dutch begrijpen (“to grasp, comprehend”), German begreifen (“to grasp, comprehend, realise, understand”), Swedish begripa (“to grasp, understand”).

Verb

1. (transitive) To lay hold of; apprehend; grip; grasp.
   • 1865, Dante Alighieri, The Comedy of Dante Allighieri. [sic]: Part I--The Hell:

     He, with his middle feet, begriped his paunch, And took the arms with the anterior; And then he bit both one and other cheek.

   • 1899, Sir Thomas Malory, Sir Edward Strachey, William Caxton, Le morte Darthur:

     And as for this sword there shall never man begripe it at the handle but one, but he shall pass all other. In the name of God, said Percivale, I shall essay to handle it. So he set his hand to the sword, but he might not begripe it.

Related terms

• begrip

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Middle Dutch

Verb

begripe

1. inflection of begripen:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. first/third-person singular present subjunctive

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Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Middle Low German begripen, compare with Danish begribe

Verb

begripe (imperative begrip, present tense begriper, passive begripes, simple past begrep or begreip, past participle begrepet, present participle begripende)

1. to grasp, understand, comprehend

Derived terms

• begripelse

References

• “begripe” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “begripe” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Middle Low German begripen

Verb

begripe (present tense begrip, past tense begreip, past participle begripe, passive infinitive begripast, present participle begripande, imperative begrip)

1. to grasp, understand, comprehend

Alternative forms

• begripa

References

• “begripe” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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West Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian bigrīpa, from Proto-Germanic *bigrīpaną, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰreyb-. Equivalent to be- +‎ gripe.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bəˈɡripə/

Verb

begripe

1. to understand, to comprehend

Inflection

Strong class 1
infinitive	begripe
3rd singular past	begriep
past participle	begrepen
infinitive	begripe
long infinitive	begripen
gerund	begripen n
auxiliary	hawwe
indicative	present tense	past tense
1st singular	begryp	begriep
2nd singular	begrypst	begriepst
3rd singular	begrypt	begriep
plural	begripe	begriepen
imperative	begryp
participles	begripend	begrepen

Further reading

• “begripe”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011