Learned borrowing fromOld Englishwitan, plural ofwita(“wise man”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈwɪtən/

witan (pluralwitans)

1. The Anglo-Saxon national council orwitenagemot.
   • 1833, S. A. Dunham,Europe in the Middle Ages, Green & Longman, page48:

     But in estimating the powers of thewitan, we must not lose sight of the fact, that the king sometimes assumes a tone of superiority scarcely consistent with its independence.

   • 1889, Hannis Taylor,The Origin and Growth of the English Constitution:

     Thefolkland, the national fund, was administered and conveyed conjointly by the king and thewitan.

• Antwi,TWAIN,Twain,Wiant,twain,waint

witan

1. Romanization of𐍅𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽

FromProto-West Germanic*witan, fromProto-Germanic*witaną, fromProto-Indo-European*wóyde, originally a perfect form of*weyd-(“see”).

witan

1. toknow

• Middle Dutch:wēten
  • Dutch:weten
    • Afrikaans:weet
  • Limburgish:weite,wiete

• “witan”, inOudnederlands Woordenboek,2012

FromProto-Germanic*wītaną.

wītan

1. toblame, tohold accountable

• farwītan

• Middle Dutch:witen
  • Dutch:wijten
    • Afrikaans:wyt
  • Limburgish:wiete

• “wītan (II)”, inOudnederlands Woordenboek,2012

• weotan

FromProto-West Germanic*witan, fromProto-Germanic*witaną, fromProto-Indo-European*wóyde, originally a perfect form of*weyd-(“see”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈwi.tɑn/

witan

1. toknow, be aware of

   be hwāmhwuguwitan

   toknow about something

   • c. 995,Ælfric,Extracts on Grammar in English

     Þūwāst hwǣr þīn bōc is.

     Youknow where your book is.

   • late 10th century,Ælfric'sLives of Saints

     Iċwāt eall be þām.

     Iknow all about that.

   • late 9th century,King Alfred'stranslation ofThe Consolation of Philosophy

     Þā cwæþ hē, "Wāst þū hwæt mann sīe?" Þā cwæþ iċ, "Iċwāt þæt hit biþ sāwol and līchama."

     Then he said, "Do youknow what a person is?" So I said, "Iknow its a soul and a body."

2. tofeel a certain emotion
   • c. 900,translation ofOrosius'History Against the Pagans

     Þæt is tō wundriġenne þæt þā Ēgypte swā lȳtle þancungewiston Iōsēpe þæs þe hē hīe æt hungre āhredde.

     It's amazing that the Egyptiansfelt so little gratitude to Joseph for saving them from famine.

Old English used several different words to mean “to know”:

• Witan meant “to be aware of”, and was used with facts and pieces of information:Iċwāt þæt iċ nāt nāwiht(“Iknow that I know nothing”),Hwāwāt hū fela ōðerra manna sind mē ġelīċe?(“Whoknows how many other people are like me?”),Hwanonwāst þū mīnne naman?(“How do youknow my name?”),Þūwāst hwæt tō dōnne is(“Youknow what to do”).
• Cunnan meant “to be familiar with”, and was used with people, places, concepts, and skills:Mæġ iċ hine lufian swīðor þonne iċ hinecann?(“Can I love him more than Iknow him?”),Ne sorge ġē, iċcann þis sċræf swā æftewearde mīne hand(“Don't worry, Iknow this cave like the back of my hand”),Ealdenglisċcunnan þyncþ mē unnytt(“Knowing Old English seems useless to me”). With verbs, it means “to know how”:Þū ānacūðest mē hreddan(“You're the only person whoknew how to save me”),Wisson ġit þæt hē singancann?(“Did you know hecan sing?”).
• Ġecnāwan andoncnāwan meant “to recognize, identify”, and could be used almost interchangeably with each other:Þā stefne iċ wolde āhwǣrġecnāwan(“I'dknow that voice anywhere”),Ġecnǣwst þū þisne wer?(“Do youknow this man?”),Iċoncnāwe gōd handweorc þonne iċ hit ġesēo(“Iknow good craftsmanship when I see it”),Be þononcnāwaþ ealle menn þæt ġē sind mīne frīend(“That's how everyonewill know you're my friends”). Thoughcnāwan is the ancestor of modernknow and was probably a synonym, it was many times less common than these two prefixed forms in the Old English period, being attested only a few times in the surviving corpus.
• Tōcnāwan meant “to distinguish, discern”:riht and wōhtōcnāwan(“toknow right from wrong”).

• nytan

• bewitan
• forewitan
• ġewitan
• God wāt

• ġewiss
• wīs

• Middle English:witen,wete,weten,wetyn,wite,witenn,witten,wyett,wyt,wyte,wyten,woten
  • English:wit,weet
  • Scots:wit

FromProto-Germanic*wītaną. Cognate withOld Norsevíta,Dutchwijten.

• IPA^(key): /ˈwiː.tɑn/

wītan

1. toblame,accuse,reproach

• ġewītan(“to depart”)

• English:wite
• Scots:wyte

See the etymology of the correspondinglemma form.

• IPA^(key): /ˈwi.tɑn/

witan

1. nominativeplural ofwita

FromProto-West Germanic*witan, fromProto-Germanic*witaną, fromProto-Indo-European*wóyde, originally a perfect form of*weyd-(“see”).

witan (3 singular presentwēt,3 singular preteritewissa,preterite pluralwissun,no past participle)

1. toknow

• Middle Low German:wēten,wetten
  • Low German:weten,weiten,witen
    • German Low German:wetten,wieten

FromProto-Germanic*wītaną.

wītan (3 singular presentwītid,3 singular preteritewēt,preterite pluralwitun,past participlegiwitan)

1. toreproach, toblame

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