hweorfan

From Proto-West Germanic *hwerban (“to turn”). Cognate with Old Frisian hwerva, Old Saxon hwervan, Old High German werban, Old Norse hverfa.

• IPA^(key): /ˈxwe͜or.fɑn/, [ˈʍe͜orˠ.vɑn]

hweorfan

1. to turn, change
   • 10th century, The Wanderer:

     Beorn sċeal ġebīdan, · þonne hē bēot spriceð,
     oþþæt collenferð · cunne ġearwe
     hwider hreþra ġehyġd · hweorfan wille.

     Man must pause when he tells a promise
     until bold spirit would know clearly
     where thought of hearts would turn.

2. to depart, go, proceed
3. to travel, roam, go about, wander, move about
   • 10th century, The Seafarer:

     Forþon nū mīn hyġe hweorfeð ofer hreþerlocan; mīn mōdsefa mid mereflōde ofer hwæles ēþel hweorfeð wīde, eorþan sċēatas, cymeð eft tō mē ġīfre ond grǣdiġ; ġielleð ānfloga, hweteð on wæl weġ hreþer unwearnum ofer holma ġelagu.

     Thus, my mind now wanders over heartstead; my soul wanders afar with the sea-flood over whale’s home, on the Earth’s corners, comes back, greedy and hungry, to me; the lone-flyer yells, whets the soul on the slain way over the stretch of waters with no refuses.

4. to return
   • The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

     An. DCCCXIII Hēr Wulfrēd arċebisċeop mid bletsunge Leon þǣs papan hwearf eft tō his āgnum bisċeopdōme. ⁊ þȳ ġēare ġehergode Eċġbriht cing on Westwēalas frām ēasteweardum ōþ westwearde.

     Year 813 In this year Archbishop Wulfred returned to his own bishopdom with the blessing of Pope Leo [III]. And in that year King Edgebright ravaged the Celts of Cornwall from the east to the west.

• hwearf
• hwyrft
• hwearfian

• Middle English: wharven
  • English: wharve

• Joseph Bosworth; T. Northcote Toller (1898), “hweorfan”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, second edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.