olden

Etymology

It is probably in origin an inflected form of old,^[2] formed from English old + -en,^{[3][4][5][6][7]} though later perhaps understood as the noun meaning former times, with the suffix.^[2][8] The OED traces it to set phrases: Old English said on ealdum dagum (“in former days”), with a dative plural ending;^[2][5] from early Middle English on, the phrase bi olde dawe kept an archaic plural of the noun for day.^[2] In late Middle English forms such as olden dawes the -en may continue the old dative ending, or may have replaced an unstressed -e to keep the phrase three syllables long; from such phrases the word perhaps spread to other contexts in early modern English.^[2] Johnson derived it from the adjective, "perhaps the Saxon plural".^[9] The verb olden, to grow old, is formed from the same adjective with a verbal suffix, and is recorded from 1700.^[2][4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Belonging to a past age, ancient, chiefly in olden days and olden time: before 1400, in the Cursor Mundi.^[2] Etymonline dates it to about 1400, and Merriam-Webster Unabridged to the 14th century.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

The adjective lived mainly in fixed phrases such as olden days and olden times,^[2][10] and also meant simply old or aged.^[2][4] Johnson (1755) defined it as "ancient" and said the word was no longer in use, quoting Shakespeare's "i' th' olden time" from Macbeth.^[9] It survives as an archaic or poetic word,^[10][8] often with a quaint flavour.^[4] The verb, to grow old or to age, appeared in 1700, and a transitive use, to make older, in 1850, in Thackeray's Pendennis;^[2][4] in Yorkshire dialect the verb was still current at the end of the 19th century.^[11]

Timeline

• before 1400 – belonging to a past age, chiefly in olden days.^[2]
• 1700 – verb, to grow old, to age.^[2]
• 1850 – verb, to make someone older.^[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (archaic) Of or belonging to a time long past; ancient: in olden days the river was crossed by ferry.^[10][4][2]
2. Old, aged.^[4][2]

Verb

1. To grow old; to age.^[4][2][8]
2. (archaic) To make older.^[4][2]

Related words

• eld
• old

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)