æfenmete
The Old English word for dinner is æfenmete.
æfenmete is used to refer to an evening meal.
Meaning: evening meal (noun)
What does it mean word for word?
The word is a compound of æfen (evening) and mete (food or meal).
How does it change in a sentence?
æfenmete is a masculine noun, which determines the form of any accompanying articles or adjectives in a sentence.
Did you know?
- The second half of the word, mete, is the direct ancestor of the modern English word 'meat', though in Old English it referred to all kinds of food, not just animal flesh.
- The spelling of æfenmete uses the character æ, called an ash, which represented a short vowel sound similar to the 'a' in the modern English word 'cat'.
Examples in context
- Se æfenmete is god.The dinner is good.
Example conversation
Eadgyth and Osric are in their home at sunset.
- EadgythIs se æfenmete gearu?Is the dinner ready?
- OsricGēa, hē is gearu.Yes, it is ready.
- EadgythMē hyngreþ swīðe.I am very hungry.
- OsricCum tō bēode, Eadgyth.Come to the table, Eadgyth.
Sources
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries æfenmete, CC BY-SA 4.0.
