hunten

Middle English

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old English huntian, from Proto-Germanic *huntōn, possibly from a Proto-Indo-European *ḱent-.

Alternative forms

• honte, honten, hounty, hunnte, hunte
• honti, huntien (Early Middle English); hunntenn (Ormulum)
• hount, hunt (Northern)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhuntən/

Verb

hunten (third-person singular simple present hunteth, present participle huntynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle hunted)

1. To hunt (search for an animal for meat or sport)
2. To hunt down; to pursue with enmity or ferocity.
   • c. 1378-9, [William Langland], “Paſſus .x᷒. de visione. et ıı᷒ de Dowel..”, in [Piers Plowman, A Treatise on Sin] (W, B-text), London, published c. 1400, →OCLC, folio 52, recto; republished as Thorlac Turville-Petre, Hoyt N. Duggan, editors, Cambridge, Trinity College, MS B.15.17 (The Piers Plowman Electronic Archive; 2), SEENET, 2014, →ISBN:

     Ac þe carefulle may crie. and carpen at þe yate / Boþe afyngred and a furſt. and foꝛ chele quake. / Is þͬ noon to nyme hym neer. his anoy to amende / But hunten hym as an hound. and hoten hym go þennes

     But those in distress must cry and complain at the gate, / both hungry and thirsty, and shivering from the chill; / there is no one to take them close and relieve their hardship / rather than chasing them like a dog and telling them to go away.

3. To pursue or strive towards [with after]
4. (rare) To fish; to catch fish.
5. (rare) To hunt in (a particular area)

Conjugation

Conjugation of hunten (weak in -ede)

infinitive	(to) hunten, hunte
	present tense	past tense
1st-person singular	hunte	hunted(e)
2nd-person singular	huntest	huntedest
3rd-person singular	hunteth	hunted(e)
subjunctive singular	hunte
imperative singular		—
plural1	hunten, hunte	hunteden, hunted(e)
imperative plural	hunteth, hunte	—
participles	huntynge, huntende	hunted, yhunted

¹ Sometimes used as a formal 2nd-person singular.

Derived terms

• huntere
• hunteresse

Related terms

• hunte
• on hunteth

Descendants

• English: hunt
• Middle Scots: hunt, hount
  • Scots: hunt
• Yola: hint

References

• “hunten, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 2

Noun

hunten

1. (Early Middle English) plural of hunte