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(ġe)witan, preterite present verb. know; understand.

These spellings occur in the Old English Aerobics texts:

 singularplural
infinitivewitan
inflected infinitivetō wiotonne tō witanne tō ġewitanne
present indicative1wāt nāt witon witan
2wāst
3wāt nāt
past indicative1wiste wiston
2
3wisse nyste wiste nysse ġewiste
present subjunctivewite nyte
past subjunctive
present participlewitende

This word occurs 58 times in the Old English Aerobics Anthology. To see a list of occurrences of (ġe)witan in a text, click a title below. Click a line- or sentence-number to see the word in context.

Beowulf

Alfred the Great's Preface

  • [26] tō wiotonne. know.
  • [17] wiston. knew.

Battle of Maldon

  • 24 wiste. knew.
  • 94 wāt. knows.

Boethius on Fame

  • [2] wāst. know.
  • [3] wāst. know.
  • [5] wāst. know.
  • [16] witan. know.
  • [17] wāst. know.
  • [27] nāt. know (negated).
  • [28] wāst. know.
  • [60] witon. know.
  • [74] wāt. knows.
  • [77] nāt. knows (negated).

Fall of Adam and Eve

  • [5] wāt. knows.
  • [5] witende. knowing.

Judith

  • 68 nyste. knew (negated).
  • 207 wiston. knew.

Life of St Æthelthryth

Ohthere and Wulfstan

  • [16] nyste. knew (negated).
  • [9] nysse. knew (negated).
  • [8] wisse. knew.
  • [8] nysse. knew (negated).

Selection of Riddles

  • e3 wāt. know.
  • c14 ġewiste. knew.

Sermo Lupi ad Anglos

Story of Cædmon

Waldere

  • 36 wāt. know.

Wanderer

  • 11 wāt. know.
  • 27 wisse. knew.
  • 29 Wāt. knows, understands.
  • 37 wāt. knows, understands.

William the Conqueror

  • [12] tō ġewitanne. know.
  • [30] nyste. knew (negated).

Ælfric on the Book of Job

  • [86] wāt. know.
  • [47] wite. know, understand.

Exercises and sample sentences

  • witan. know.
  • witon. know.
  • witon. know.
  • wite. know.
  • nyte. know (negated).
  • witan. know.
  • wite. know.
  • wāt. knows.