Heʓlenn is now first used for ‘to salute.’
The Old English gehyded is now contracted into hidd; hidden is one of the few Weak Participles that we have turned into Strong ones.
Hutenn (vituperare), to hoot, which first appears in Orrmin's work, is a puzzle to lexicographers, and may come either from the Welsh or the Norse.
The old onlihtan becomes lihhtenn in Orrmin's hands; but we have returned to enlighten.
England cleaves to her own old word leap, Scotland to the Norse laupa (loup): they are both found in the Ormulum.
The Old English sœclode now takes its modern form secnedd, sickened; conversely, we shall see later the French train become trail.
Scorcnedd (scorched) appears for the first time in English; Wedgwood quotes the Low Dutch schroggen, which has the same meaning.
Orrmin uses both the Strong and the Weak form for the Past Participle of show; he has both shœwenn and shœwedd. We now prefer the former, though the latter is the true form; just as we mistakenly write strewn for strewed. But in the matter of Strong and Weak verbs, we usually err on the other side.
We derive our modern notion of the word shift (in Latin, mutare) from the Scandinavian, and not from the Old English.[1] In the latter, the word means ‘to distribute,’ and nothing more. We see the two senses in Orrmin's work (I. 13), when he speaks of Zachariah's service in the Temple.
- ↑ Our word shift (chemise) means a change of linen.
