geseon

Old English

Alternative forms

• gesea, gisea — Northumbrian
• gesean, gesian — Mercian

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *gasehwaną. Equivalent to ġe- +‎ sēon.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jeˈseː.on/

Verb

ġesēon

1. to see
   • late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of Boethius' The Consolation of Philosophy

     ...þāra þe wit ǣr ne ġesāwon.

     ...that we haven't seen before.

   • c. 992, Ælfric, "Midlent Sunday"

     On ōðre wīsan wē sċēawiaþ mētinge and on ōðre wīsan stafas. Ne gǣþ nā māre tō mētinge būtan þæt þū hit ġesēo and herie. Nis nā ġenōg þæt þū stafas sċēawiġe būtan þū hīe ēac rǣde and þæt andġiet understande.

     We look at pictures in one way and letters in another. You don't do anything with a painting except see it and praise it. Looking at letters is not enough unless you also read them and understand the meaning.

   • c. 897, Alfred the Great, translation of Pope Gregory's Pastoral Care

     Hēr man mæġ ġīet ġesēon heora swaðu, ac wē him ne cunnon æfter spyrian.

     Here you can still see their footprints, but we don't know how to follow them.

2. to appear, look
   • c. 992, Ælfric, "On the Purification of St. Mary"

     Lytel he wæs ðær gesewen, ac ðeah-hwæðere he wæs swiðe micel and ormæte. Lytel he wæs gesewen, forðan ðe he wolde gefeccan þa lytlan, and gebringan up to his rice.""

     Little he there appeared, yet was he, nevertheless, very great and infinite. Little he appeared, because he would fetch the little and bring them up to his kingdom."

   • c. 992, Ælfric, "The First Sunday in September"

     Iōb cwæþ, "Ēalā ġif mīna synna and mīn iermþu þe iċ þoliġe wǣren āweġena on ānre wǣgan, þonne wǣren hīe swǣrran ġesewena þonne sandcorn on sǣ."

     Job said, "If only my sins and the misery I suffer were weighed on a scale; then they would appear heavier than the sandgrains in the sea."

Usage notes

• "To look" as in "to appear" is rendered with the phrase "to be seen": Lȳtel hē wæs ġesewen (“He looked small,” literally “he was seen small”), Iċ þē ġehāte þæt hit swā nis swā hit ġesewen is! (“I promise you, it's not what it looks like!”, literally “it's not how it's seen”). Sometimes the pronoun man is used in this function: Man ġeseah swelċe ān fȳren hring norðan cōme (“It looked like a ring of fire was coming from the north”).

Conjugation

Conjugation of ġesēon (strong class 5)

infinitive	ġesēon	ġesēonne
indicative mood	present tense	past tense
first person singular	ġesēo	ġeseah
second person singular	ġesiehst	ġesāwe
third person singular	ġesiehþ	ġeseah
plural	ġesēoþ	ġesāwon
subjunctive	present tense	past tense
singular	ġesēo	ġesāwe
plural	ġesēon	ġesāwen
imperative
singular	ġeseoh
plural	ġesēoþ
participle	present	past
	ġesēonde	ġesewen

Descendants

• Middle English: yseen