body, form, flesh (as distinct from the soul; appears in the pairing līce and sāwle — body and soul)
muþ
mouth
sāwol
soul, spirit, the animating inner self (paired with līc to express the whole person: līce and sāwle — body and soul)
🏃 Verbs
gewilnian
to desire, to long for, to wish earnestly (appears in Iċ þē gewilnie eal — I desire you entirely)
wearþ onfongen
was received, was taken in, was embraced — a passive construction from weorþan (to become, to come to pass) + onfongen, past participle of onfōn (to receive, to accept, to take into oneself).
The construction carries more weight than a simple passive. Where modern English “was received” is neutral, wearþ onfongen implies an event that came to pass — a becoming, not merely a happening. The receiving is felt as significant.
⚖️ Character & Conduct
þeaw
A habit, custom, or practice — but one understood as inseparable from the moral character of the person who holds it. It is not merely what one does repeatedly, but what one is through repetition.
Moral character as expressed through conduct — virtue made visible in action.
In the plural þeawas — one’s manners, virtues, the entire constellation of one’s behaviour and ethical bearing.
mēd
reward, recompense, wages; what is given in return for labour or service — but also what one is genuinely worthy of receiving. The word holds both the transactional and the moral in tension: payment and desert at once.
unræd
ill-counsel, poor judgement; a mind that advises itself badly.