word – Middle English noun declension

Middle English noun forms of word

Noun: word
Sg.word
Pl.wordes; word

Genitive

Dative

Sample Sentences

  • Ȝe knowe ek that in fourme of ſpeche is chaunge / With-inne a thousand ȝeer, and wordes tho / That hadden pris now wonder nyce and ſtraunge / Us thenketh hem, and ȝet thei ſpake hem so / And ſpedde as wel in loue as men now do (You also know that the form of language is in flux; / within a thousand years, words / that had currency; really weird and bizarre / they seem to us now, but they still spoke them / and accomplished as much in love as men do now.) [a. 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “Book II”, in Troilus and Criseyde, lines 22–28:]
  • My lorde ſeyde ẜ Bedwere youre cõmaundement ſhaỻ be done, and lyghtly brynge you word a gayne. ("My lord," said Sir Bedivere, "your order will be carried out, and I'll promptly bring you news [about it] afterwards.") [1470–1483 (date produced), Thom̃s Malleorre [i.e., Thomas Malory], “[Morte Arthur]”, in Le Morte Darthur (British Library Additional Manuscript 59678), [England: s.n.], folios 480, verso – 481, recto:]
  • ¶ Ac heo þat woꝛchen þᵗ woꝛd. þat holi writ techeþ. / And endeþ as Ich er ſeide. in ꝓfitable werkes. / Mouwen be siker þat heoꝛe ſoules. ſchullẽ to heuene. (But those who practice the precepts that Holy Scripture teaches / and finish [life] with praiseworthy deeds, as I previously said, / can be certain that their souls will [ascend] to Heaven.) [c. 1370, [William Langland], “[Passus 1]”, in Petrus plowmon (V, A-text), Worcestershire, published c. 1390, folio 395, verso, column 1; republished as Bodleian Library MS. Eng. poet. a. 1, Oxford: Digital Bodleian, 10 January 2019:]
  • IN þe bigynnyng was þe woꝛd .· ⁊ þe woꝛd was at god / ⁊ god was þe woꝛd (In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word.) [c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.), published c. 1410, Joon 1:1, folio 44, recto, column 2; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:]

Etymology

From Old English word, from Proto-West Germanic *word, from Proto-Germanic *wurdą, from Proto-Indo-European *werdʰom. Doublet of verbe. See: Old English Nouns 'word'.

Verbs referencing "word"

English Nouns word.

Translations