NerthusV3. Online Lexical Database of Old English

The database draws on the lexicographical tradition of Old English. More specifically, it is based mainly on Hall’s A Concise Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon (including Supplement) and, secondarily, on Bosworth-Toller’s An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary (including the Supplement by Toller and the Addenda by Campbell), Sweet’s The Student Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon and The Dictionary of Old English. The default spelling of citation forms and alternative spellings corresponds to Hall’s A Concise Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon. Otherwise, the source is acknowledged, as in ābernan, ābyrnan (DOE), ādrīgan, ādrygan (BT), ādrigan (BT), ādrugian (BT), ādruwian (BT), antecrīst (Sweet), etc.

Some translations and/or alternative spellings follow The Dictionary of Old English (A-G): ādihtnian, āsamnian, āstrēowian, ātrucian, āwǣgnian, beforancuman, beforangecuman, betwēohceorfan, betwuxcuman, dā, dǣdbana, dǣdfruma, dæg, dæghwāmlīce, dēaðbǣrnes, dēma, dēma, dōere, ðōhe, efnegecyrran, efnegeheaðorian, eftādrīfan, eftbecweðan, firenwyrhta, forðhebban, forðwegan, forwyrhta, (ge)andspyrian, (ge)byrgan, (ge)costian, (ge)dēman, (ge)dēman, (ge)gilda, (ge)wyrhta, gewyrhta, handdǣda, lāðgetēona, lǣstend, lēaswyrcend, māndǣda, mānfolm, mānfordǣdla, mānwyrhta, nāhtfremmend, scyllan, tēonsmið, tēonword, unrihtwyrcend, unrihtwyrhta, wamsceaða, welwyrcend, wirgend, wyrcend.

The information presented in the translation field synthesizes the definitions available from Bosworth-Toller’s An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary and Hall’s A Concise Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon. The various meaning definitions found in these dictionaries have been unified on two principles: polysemy and increasing specificity. Within a meaning definition, commas separate related instantiations of a sense while semicolons distinguish senses, as cāflīce 'quickly, hastily, promptly; vigorously, stoutly; boldly, manfully'. Both inside and across senses, definitions have been organized along two scales, namely hypernym-hyperonym (this is usually the case with nouns and adjectives) and troponymy (mainly in verbs), as the examples below illustrate:

tācn

macian