English

Noun

witan ‎(plural witans)

1. The Anglo-Saxon national council or witenagemot.

   1833, But in estimating the powers of the witan, we must not lose sight of the fact, that the king sometimes assumes a tone of superiority scarcely consistent with its independence. — SA Dunham, Europe in the Middle Ages (Green & Longman, p.48)

2. The members of such an assembly.

Anagrams

• twain

Gothic

Romanization

witan

1. Romanization of 𐍅𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽

Old Dutch

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *witaną, whence also Old English and Old Saxon witan, Old High German wizzan, Old Norse vita. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *woidh₂e, originally a perfect form of *weyd- ‎(“see”).

Verb

witan

1. to know

Descendants

• Middle Dutch: weten
  • Dutch: weten

Old English

Etymology 1

Inflected forms.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwitɑn/

Noun

witan

1. nominative plural of wita

Etymology 2

From Proto-Germanic *witaną, from Proto-Indo-European *woidh₂e, originally a perfect form of *weyd- ‎(“see”). Cognate with Old Frisian wita, Old Saxon witan/wēt (Dutch weten), Old High German wizzan/weiz (German wissen), Old Norse vita/veit (Swedish veta), Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 ‎(witan)/𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍄 ‎(wait). The Indo-European root is also the source of Latin videō, Proto-Baltic *waid- (Lithuanian vadinti), Proto-Slavic *vēde- (Old Church Slavonic вѣдѣти ‎(věděti), Russian ве́дать ‎(védatʹ)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwitɑn/

Verb

witan

1. to know, be aware
2. to be wise
3. to be conscious of, to know or feel (an emotion etc.)

Conjugation

Descendants

• Middle English: witen
  • English: wit, wot

Etymology 3

From Proto-Germanic *wītaną. Cognate with Old Norse víta, Dutch wijten.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wiːtɑn/

Verb

wītan

1. to blame, accuse, reproach

Conjugation

Descendants

• English: wite

Old Saxon

Etymology 1

From Proto-Germanic *witaną, whence also Old English and Old Dutch witan, Old Frisian wita, Old High German wizzan, Old Norse vita, Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 ‎(witan). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *woidh₂e, originally a perfect form of *weyd- ‎(“see”).

Verb

witan (3 singular present wēt, 3 singular preterite wissa, preterite plural wissun, no past participle)

1. to know

Conjugation

Etymology 2

From Proto-Germanic *wītaną.

Verb

wītan (3 singular present wītid, 3 singular preterite wēt, preterite plural witun, past participle giwitan)

1. to reproach, to blame

Conjugation