weorþan

Old English

Alternative forms

• *wearþan — Mercian
• weorðan — edh spelling
• worða — Northumbrian
• wurþan — Late West Saxon

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *werþan, from Proto-Germanic *werþaną (“to become”), from Proto-Indo-European *wért-e-ti (“to be turning”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwe͜or.θɑn/, [ˈwe͜orˠ.ðɑn]

Verb

weorþan

1. to become
   • 10th century, Exeter Book Riddle 5‎^[1]:

     …ac mē eċġa dolg ēacen weorðað þurh dēaðsleġe dagum and nihtum.

     …but for me wounds of edges become widened through deathblows by days and nights.

2. (auxiliary) to be (used to form the passive voice)
   • c. 992, Ælfric, "Saint Maur, Abbot"

     Hē ārās þā ġesund, swelċe of slǣpe āwreaht, and begann tō wundrienne hū hē wurde þæder ġebrōht.

     Then he got up safe and sound, as if woken from sleep, and began to wonder how he got there. (Lit. How he was brought there)

3. to happen, come to pass
   • The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

     An. DLXXXV Hēr wearþ on Brytene blōdi rēn ⁊ meolc and butere wurdon ġewend to blōde.

     Year 685 In this year there was bloody rain in Britain and milk and butter were turned into blood.

Conjugation

Conjugation of weorþan (strong, class III)

infinitive	weorþan	weorþenne
indicative mood	present tense	past tense
first person singular	weorþe	wearþ
second person singular	wierst	wurde
third person singular	wierþþ, wierþ	wearþ
plural	weorþaþ	wurdon
subjunctive	present tense	past tense
singular	weorþe	wurde
plural	weorþen	wurden
imperative
singular	weorþ
plural	weorþaþ
participle	present	past
	weorþende	(ġe)worden

Derived terms

• āweorþan
• forweorþan
• ġeweorþan

Descendants

• Middle English: werthen
  • English: worth, word (dialectal)
  • Scots: worth (dated)

References

• Joseph Bosworth; T. Northcote Toller (1898), “weorþan”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, second edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.