ceosan

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *keusan, from Proto-Germanic *keusaną, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵews- (“taste, choose”).

Cognate with Old Frisian kiāsa, Old Saxon kiosan, Old High German kiosan, Old Norse kjósa, Gothic 𐌺𐌹𐌿𐍃𐌰𐌽 (kiusan). The Indo-European root was also the source of Latin gustus (“taste”), Albanian desha (“chosen”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃe͜oː.sɑn/, [ˈt͡ʃe͜oː.zɑn]

Verb

ċēosan

1. to choose, select
   • The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

     An. DCCLXXXV Hēr wæs ġeflitfullīċ seonoð æt Ċealchȳþe, and Ēanbriht arċebisċeop forlēt sumne dǣl his bisċeopdōmes, ⁊ frām Offan cinge Hiġebriht wæs ġecoren, ⁊ Eċġferð tō cininge ġehalgod.

     Year 785 In this year there was a contentious synod in Chalk, and Archbishop Eanbright gave up some a part of his bishopdom, and Higebright was chosen by King Offa, and Edgeferth was crowned king.

2. to elect
3. to accept

Conjugation

Conjugation of ċēosan (strong, class II)

infinitive	ċēosan	ċēosenne
indicative mood	present tense	past tense
first person singular	ċēose	ċēas
second person singular	ċīest	cure
third person singular	ċīest	ċēas
plural	ċēosaþ	curon
subjunctive	present tense	past tense
singular	ċēose	cure
plural	ċēosen	curen
imperative
singular	ċēos
plural	ċēosaþ
participle	present	past
	ċēosende	(ġe)coren

Coordinate terms

• cyre (“choice”)

Derived terms

• āċēosan
• forþċēosan
• ġeċēosan
• onċēosan
• wiþċēosan
• wiþerċēosan

Related terms

• ċīes

Descendants

• Middle English: chesen, chees, cheese, cheesen, chese, chesyn, cheose, cheys, chiese, chiesen, chyese, chose, chuse, cesen, cheosen (Early Middle English)
  • English: choose
  • Middle Scots: ches, chese, chuis
    • Scots: chuise, cheese