wesan

Wesan is the Old English verb meaning “to be.” It is one of the central verbs in Old English and the broader Germanic language family, serving as a copular verb to link subjects with predicates and, in some constructions, as an auxiliary. Wesan existed in its infinitive form and was inflected for person, number, and tense across dialects and periods, with variations in usage attested in Old English texts and poetry. In some dialects and periods, it functioned alongside another copular verb, beon, reflecting the coexistence of two grammatical pathways for the verb “to be” in early English.

The form is derived from Proto-Germanic *wesaną, part of the Germanic heritage for the verb “to be.” It has recognizable cross-Germanic cognates, including Old Norse vera (to be) and Old High German sîn (to be), underscoring the common lineage of the Germanic verb for existence and state of being. Through linguistic development, wesan contributed to the rich repertoire of the Old English copular system and influenced later Germanic languages.

In usage, wesan encompasses the semantic range of “to be” in existential, predicative, and locative contexts, and it provided a foundation for tense formation and passive-like constructions in older stages of English. Over time, as English evolved into Middle and Modern English, beon and related forms largely supplanted wesan in standard infinitival usage, and the modern verb to be developed from this historical ancestry.

Today, wesan is primarily of interest in studies of Old English grammar, philology, and historical linguistics, where it is cited as the historical precursor of the English verb to be.