witan

Learned borrowing from Old English witan, plural of wita (“wise man”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈwɪtən/

witan (plural witans)

1. The Anglo-Saxon national council or witenagemot.
   • 1833, S. A. Dunham, Europe in the Middle Ages, Green & Longman, page 48:

     But in estimating the powers of the witan, we must not lose sight of the fact, that the king sometimes assumes a tone of superiority scarcely consistent with its independence.

   • 1889, Hannis Taylor, The Origin and Growth of the English Constitution:

     The folkland, the national fund, was administered and conveyed conjointly by the king and the witan.

• Antwi, TWAIN, Twain, Wiant, twain, waint

witan

1. Romanization of 𐍅𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽

From Proto-West Germanic *witan, from Proto-Germanic *witaną, from Proto-Indo-European *wóyde, originally a perfect form of *weyd- (“see”).

witan

1. to know

• Middle Dutch: wēten
  • Dutch: weten
    • Afrikaans: weet
  • Limburgish: weite, wiete

• “witan”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012

From Proto-Germanic *wītaną.

wītan

1. to blame, to hold accountable

• farwītan

• Middle Dutch: witen
  • Dutch: wijten
    • Afrikaans: wyt
  • Limburgish: wiete

• “wītan (II)”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012

• weotan

From Proto-West Germanic *witan, from Proto-Germanic *witaną, from Proto-Indo-European *wóyde, originally a perfect form of *weyd- (“see”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈwi.tɑn/

witan

1. to know, be aware of

   be hwāmhwugu witan

   to know about something

   • c. 995, Ælfric, Extracts on Grammar in English

     Þū wāst hwǣr þīn bōc is.

     You know where your book is.

   • late 10th century, Ælfric's Lives of Saints

     Iċ wāt eall be þām.

     I know all about that.

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

     Þā cwæþ hē, "Wāst þū hwæt mann sīe?" Þā cwæþ iċ, "Iċ wāt þæt hit biþ sāwol and līchama."

     Then he said, "Do you know what a person is?" So I said, "I know its a soul and a body."

2. to feel a certain emotion
   • c. 900, translation of Orosius' History Against the Pagans

     Þæt is tō wundriġenne þæt þā Ēgypte swā lȳtle þancunge wiston Iōsēpe þæs þe hē hīe æt hungre āhredde.

     It's amazing that the Egyptians felt so little gratitude to Joseph for saving them from famine.

Old English used several different words to mean “to know”:

• Witan meant “to be aware of”, and was used with facts and pieces of information: Iċ wāt þæt iċ nāt nāwiht (“I know that I know nothing”), Hwā wāt hū fela ōðerra manna sind mē ġelīċe? (“Who knows how many other people are like me?”), Hwanon wāst þū mīnne naman? (“How do you know my name?”), Þū wāst hwæt tō dōnne is (“You know what to do”).
• Cunnan meant “to be familiar with”, and was used with people, places, concepts, and skills: Mæġ iċ hine lufian swīðor þonne iċ hine cann? (“Can I love him more than I know him?”), Ne sorge ġē, iċ cann þis sċræf swā æftewearde mīne hand (“Don't worry, I know this cave like the back of my hand”), Ealdenglisċ cunnan þyncþ mē unnytt (“Knowing Old English seems useless to me”). With verbs, it means “to know how”: Þū āna cūðest mē hreddan (“You're the only person who knew how to save me”), Wisson ġit þæt hē singan cann? (“Did you know he can sing?”)
• Ġecnāwan and oncnāwan meant “to recognize, identify”, and could be used almost interchangeably with each other: Þā stefne iċ wolde āhwǣr ġecnāwan (“I'd know that voice anywhere”), Ġecnǣwst þū þisne wer? (“Do you know this man?”), Iċ oncnāwe gōd handweorc þonne iċ hit ġesēo (“I know good craftsmanship when I see it”), Be þon oncnāwaþ ealle menn þæt ġē sind mīne frīend (“That's how everyone will know you're my friends”). Though cnāwan is the ancestor of modern know and was probably a synonym, it was many times less common than these two prefixed forms in the Old English period, being attested only a few times in the surviving corpus.
• Tōcnāwan meant “to distinguish, discern”: riht and wōh tōcnāwan (“to know right from wrong”).

• nytan

• bewitan
• forewitan
• ġewitan
• God wāt

• ġewiss
• wīs

• Middle English: witen, wete, weten, wetyn, wite, witenn, witten, wyett, wyt, wyte, wyten, woten
  • English: wit, weet
  • Scots: wit

From Proto-Germanic *wītaną. Cognate with Old Norse víta, Dutch wijten.

• IPA^(key): /ˈwiː.tɑn/

wītan

1. to blame, accuse, reproach

• ġewītan (“to depart”)

• English: wite
• Scots: wyte

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

• IPA^(key): /ˈwi.tɑn/

witan

1. nominative plural of wita

From Proto-West Germanic *witan, from Proto-Germanic *witaną, from Proto-Indo-European *wóyde, originally a perfect form of *weyd- (“see”).

witan (3 singular present wēt, 3 singular preterite wissa, preterite plural wissun, no past participle)

1. to know

• Middle Low German: wēten, wetten
  • German Low German: wetten, wieten

From Proto-Germanic *wītaną.

wītan (3 singular present wītid, 3 singular preterite wēt, preterite plural witun, past participle giwitan)

1. to reproach, to blame