þencan

Forms

þenċan (third-person singular present þenċeþ, past singular þōhte, past plural þōhton)^[1] The past is þōhte.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *þankijan, from Proto-Germanic *þankijaną (“to think”).^[1] Its cognates are Gothic 𐌸𐌰𐌲𐌺𐌾𐌰𐌽 (þagkjan), Old Norse þekkja (“to perceive, to know”), Old Frisian thenza, Old Saxon thenkian and Old High German denken.^[4][5][6]

Kroonen equates the verb with Latin tongeō (“to know”): it looks like a causative, but its stative meaning suggests that both continue an Indo-European present with o-grade, *tong-éye-.^[4] Wiktionary takes it as the causative of Proto-Indo-European *teng- (“to think, feel”), and Köbler gives the same root.^[1][7] De Vries notes that the root is attested only in Italic and Germanic.^[8] It is related to þanc, an a-stem noun to the same root, and to þyncan.^[4]

The past þōhte comes from Proto-Germanic *þanhtē (“(he) thought”), whose nasal was lost before *h, leaving a long nasalised vowel that became Old English ō.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is recorded from the mid-ninth century: the Old English gloss of the Vespasian Psalter has ða ðencað me yfel “those who think evil against me” over the Latin “qui cogitant mihi mala” of Psalm 34.^[9][10] The Pastoral Care of 890×897 has Ðonne hie synderlice ðenceað hu hie selfe scylen fullfremodeste weorðan “when they think only of how they themselves may become most perfect”.^[11][10]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth–Toller orders the senses: to meditate, without an object; to have a thought in mind; to think or suppose; to think of or consider a subject; and to intend or purpose.^[2] With an infinitive it means “to mean, intend”, a common use in Beowulf.^[12] Köbler adds “to remember”, “to plan” and “to wish”.^[7] In glosses it renders Latin cōgitō and recordor.^[7]

In Middle English it fell together with þyncan “to seem” as Middle English thinken, now English think.^[13][14]

Timeline

• s. ix med. – ða ðencað me yfel in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[9][10]
• 890×897 – synderlice ðenceað in the Pastoral Care.^[11][10]
• s. x med. – in the Old English Boethius.^[15][10]
• s. x² – in The Seafarer and Guthlac of the Exeter Book, and in Andreas and The Dream of the Rood of the Vercelli Book.^[16][17][10]
• s. x/xi – þenċeð, þōhte “intended” in the Beowulf manuscript.^[18][12]

Meanings

Verb

1. to think, meditate, consider.^[2][7]
2. to have in mind; to suppose, hold as a belief.^[2]
3. to think of, remember.^[2][7]
4. to intend, mean, purpose.^[19][12]
5. to wish, long for.^[7][20]

Word family

• āþenċan
• beþenċan
• ġeþenċan
• oferþenċan
• underþenċan
• ġeþōht

Descendants

• Middle English thinken (→ English think; Scots think; Scots thynk)^[1]

Related words

• þanc
• þyncan
• þancian

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 1046
3. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 142
4. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 533
5. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 416
6. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 362
7. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. þėncan
8. ^ de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 607
9. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 329
10. ^ a b c d e f Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
11. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 499
12. ^ a b c Fulk, R. D.; Bjork, Robert E.; Niles, John D., eds. (2008), Klaeber's Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg, 4th ed., Toronto: University of Toronto Press (glossary), p. s.v. þenċan
13. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
14. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
15. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 296
16. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 223
17. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 704
18. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 344
19. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 728
20. ^ Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 203