beginnan

Beginnan is a verb attested in Old English and in other West Germanic languages, meaning to begin or to start. In Old English, the infinitive is written beginnan and appears in various conjugated forms in religious, legal, and literary texts dating from roughly the 8th to the 12th centuries. The verb is the ancestor of the modern English verb begin.

Etymology and cognates: Linguists reconstruct the Proto-Germanic verb *biginnaną as the ancestor of beginnan. It has cognates in several West Germanic languages, including Old High German beginnan and Middle Dutch beginnen, from which the modern Dutch beginnen and the modern German beginnen derive.

Grammar and usage: Beginnan was used to express the start of actions or events and could be used transitively with a direct object or with infinitival clauses. In Old English, the verb formed a consonant change pattern typical of strong verbs, with past tense and past participle forms produced by vowel alternation rather than simple affixation. The noun 'beginning' is derived from this verb through the -ing nominalizer.

Modern descendants and legacy: The direct descendant in English is "begin," with corresponding forms in other Germanic languages (beginnen in German and Dutch, etc.). The verb heavily influenced the development of the related noun "beginning." It also illustrates the historical shift in English from Old English orthography to modern spelling.