sethen

Middle English

Alternative forms

• cethyn, sethyn, seþine, seþen, seoþe, zeoþen, seþe, seeþ, seeth, seþ, seeþe

Etymology

From Old English sēoþan, from Proto-Germanic *seuþaną; a cognate of Middle Low German sēden, Middle Dutch sieden, Middle High German sieden, and Old Swedish siūþa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈseːðən/

Verb

sethen

1. To boil or seethe; to heat a fluid:
   1. To boil food or meat as to cook or prepare it.
      • 1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “Capitulum ix”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book VI, [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC, leaf 98, verso; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: David Nutt, […], 1889, →OCLC, page 196, lines 29–33:

        A none ſyr kay ſayd ⸝ here is good mete for vs for one meale ⸝ for we had not many a day no good repaſt ⸝ And ſo that veneſon was roſted baken and ſoden ⸝ and ſo after ſouper ſomme abode there al that nyghte

        Anon, Sir Kay said, here is good meat for us for one meal, for we had no good repast for many a day. And so that venison was roasted, baked and boiled, and so after supper some abided there all that night.

   2. To boil down or off; to reduce by boiling something.
   3. To boil something into an essence; to boil as a form of processing.
   4. To inflict punishment or injury by boiling (typically used of Hell)
2. To cook or heat (especially used of processing ceramics or ingredients)
3. To break down or process one's consumed food using stomach acid; to digest.
4. (figurative, rare) To make pure; to revitalise.

Usage notes

While the past singular forms in seth- and present forms in seth- were spelt the same way, the past forms' vowel was /ɛː/ while the present forms had /eː/.

Conjugation

Conjugation of sethen (strong class 2)

infinitive	(to) sethen, sethe
	present tense	past tense
1st-person singular	sethe	seth, soth
2nd-person singular	sethest	sothe, sode, seth, soth
3rd-person singular	setheth, seth	seth, soth
subjunctive singular	sethe	sothe1, sode1
imperative singular		—
plural2	sethen, sethe	sothen, sothe, soden, sode
imperative plural	setheth, sethe	—
participles	sethynge, sethende	soden, sode, ysoden, ysode

¹Replaced by the indicative in later Middle English.
²Sometimes used as a formal 2nd-person singular.

Derived terms

• sether
• sethyng

Descendants

• English: seethe (sodden is from the former past participle)
• Scots: seth, seith, seethe (sodden is from the former past participle)

References

• “sẹ̄then, v.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-05.