þencan

þencan is an Old English verb meaning to think, suppose, imagine, or intend; it covers a range of cognitive and intentional senses and is the direct ancestor of the modern English verb think.

Etymology and cognates: The verb originates in the West Germanic core of the language and is closely related to cognates in other Germanic languages, such as Old High German denken and Dutch denken. All descend from a common Proto-Germanic root associated with thinking and mental action. In Old English orthography, the word is written with the rune thorn (þ), which represents the initial /θ/ or /ð/ sound; later writers replaced thorn with the digraph th. Old English verbs like þencan were inflected for person and number, as was typical of the period.

Usage and attestation: The verb appears in a wide range of Old English texts, including poetry and prose, in senses that cover thinking as a mental act, considering options, forming intentions, and planning actions. It interacts with other elements of the sentence to express cognitive processes, belief, and deliberation, and it participates in various idiomatic constructions that survive in scholarly discussions of Old English syntax and semantics.

Modern relevance: In Modern English, think is the direct descendant of þencan, while the old form is no longer in active use outside historical or linguistic study. The word’s history illustrates key transitions in English morphology, spelling, and the loss of thorn in most standardized orthographies. It also highlights the shared ancestry of the Germanic languages and the evolution of mental-state verbs in English.