beorn – Old English noun declension

Old English noun forms of beorn

Noun: beorn
Gender: m

Nominative

Singularbeorn
Pluralbeornas

Genitive

Singularbeornes
Pluralbeorna

Dative

Singularbeorne
Pluralbeornum

Accusative

Singularbeorn
Pluralbeornas

Sample Sentences

  • Til biþ sē þe his trēowe ġehealdeþ, · ne sċeal nǣfre his torn tō ryċene
  • beorn of his brēostum ācȳþan, · nemþe hē ǣr þā bōte cunne,
  • eorl mid elne ġefremman. · Wel bið þām þe him āre sēċeð,
  • frōfre tō fæder on heofonum, · þǣr ūs eal sēo fæstnung stondeð. (Good is that keeps his belief, should not ever unfold his wrath,
  • fighter of his breasts, too quickly, unless before this help he would
  • know how to help out a man with strength. It's good for him who seeks
  • help from the Father in heavens, where this whole fastening stands for us.) [10th century, The Wanderer:]
  • Biorn under beorge bordrand onswaf. (Stout by the stone-way his shield he raised. (Beowulf 2559))
  • se beorn on waruþe scip gemette (the man found a ship on the strand. (Legend of St Andrew))

Etymology

1. The origin is disputed. A phonetically exact correspondence exists in Old Norse bjǫrn (“bear”), from Proto-Germanic *bernuz (more at *berô), generally accepted as cognate with the form in proper names, but the English word is never used for "bear", and the Old Norse word is never used for "warrior". While it is not implausible that the term for a wild animal could become a poetic term for a warrior, Germanic scholars have been reluctant to accept any relationship between the two. Some consider it to be a variant of Old English bearn (“child, offspring, son", hence "boy, servant”), while others derive it from a Proto-Germanic *beron- (“carrier”) (hence "servant; man, warrior", more at baron). Celtic origin has also been considered; thus, Rhys took this to be a Germanic reflex of the Celtic title Brennus, and Bradley connected British Bernicia (Welsh brenhin, brenin).
2. The word has the form biorn in early Old English attestations; it survives into early Middle English as beorn and takes the variant spellings bern, berne, burn, burne, bearn, bieren, beern, beerne in later Middle English. Middle English usage often interchanges it with baron. As berne, it survives into the 16th century in Scottish dialect, but becomes indistinguishable from bairn. See: Old Norse Nouns 'bjǫrn'.

Verbs referencing "beorn"

English Nouns baron, Old Norse Nouns bjǫrn.

Translations