fleon

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *fleuhan, from Proto-Germanic *fleuhaną. Cognate with Old Frisian fliā, Old Saxon fliohan, Old Dutch flian, Old High German fliohan, Old Norse flýja, Gothic 𐌸𐌻𐌹𐌿𐌷𐌰𐌽 (þliuhan).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fle͜oːn/
• Rhymes: -e͜oːn

Verb

flēon

1. to flee
   • late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of Saint Augustine's Soliloquies

     ...ac onfōh mē nū þīnne āgene þēawa, for ic eom flēonde fram hym.

     ...but do Thou receive me now, Thine own servant, for I am fleeing from them.

   • Wonders of the East

     On þām londum byð piperes genihtsumnys. Þone pipor þā nǣddran healdað on hyra ġeornfulnysse. Ðone pipor mon swā nimeð þæt mon þā stōwe mid fȳre onǣleð ⁊ ðonne ðā nǣddran of dūne on eorðan þæt hī flēoð; forðan sē pipor byð sweart. Fram Babilōnia ōð Persiam þā burh ðǣr sē pipor wēaxeð is þǣs lǣssan milgetǣles þe stadia hātte eahta hund mīla.

     In that land there is an abundance of pepper. In their eagerness, the snakes keep the pepper. To take the pepper, people light the place on fire, so that the snakes flee down into the earth; because of that, the pepper is black. From Babylon to the city of Persia where the pepper grows is eight hundred of the lesser miles known as stadia.

2. to run away, run from, escape

   Mid þē sind þā þing þe þū flīehst.

   The things that you run from are with you.

   • late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of Boethius' The Consolation of Philosophy

     God ne ēht nānre wihte, for þȳ hine nān wiht ne mæġ flēon.

     God doesn't chase anything, because nothing can run from him.

3. to avoid

Usage notes

• In the sense of fleeing or running from something, fleon was usually used transitively without a preposition, as in hē flēah þone beran (literally "he fled the bear"). However, uses with fram ("from") are occasionally attested.

Conjugation

Conjugation of flēon (strong, class II)

infinitive	flēon	flēonne
indicative mood	present tense	past tense
first person singular	flēo	flēah
second person singular	flīehst	fluge
third person singular	flīehþ	flēah
plural	flēoþ	flugon
subjunctive	present tense	past tense
singular	flēo	fluge
plural	flēon	flugen
imperative
singular	flēoh
plural	flēoþ
participle	present	past
	flēonde	(ġe)flogen

Derived terms

• ætflēon
• beflēon
• forflēon
• ōþflēon

Descendants

• Middle English: flen, fleon
  • English: flee
  • Scots: flee