þanne

þanne is a historical English adverb meaning “then” or “at that time.” It appears in Old English and early Middle English texts as an alternative or variant spelling to the more common þonne. The form is written with the thorn letter (þ), used in Old English to represent the “th” sound, followed by the letters a-n-n-e in this spelling. Variant spellings include þanne, thanne, and less commonly þonne; the exact form varied by manuscript and period.

In usage, þanne functions as a temporal adverb or conjunction signaling a subsequent action or moment in a narrative sequence. Its meaning aligns with the modern English word “then,” and it appears in sentences or passages where events are recounted in order. The exact syntax and examples depend on the particular text, but the semantic role is consistent with subsequent time reference.

Historically, thorn was gradually replaced by the digraph “th” in the Latin alphabet, and by the later Middle English period the orthography of this word had largely converged toward forms such as then/thenne in spelling. The specific form þanne therefore survives mainly in linguistic study, critical editions, and discussions of Old English orthography as an example of thorn-letter usage and historical word forms.

Today, the word þanne is of interest primarily to philologists and students of historical English. It illustrates how early English wrote temporal adverbs and how orthographic conventions—such as the use of thorn—shaped the written language before the standardization that followed.