tealtrian

From Proto-West Germanic *taltrōn, from Proto-Germanic *taltrōną, a frequentative of *taltōną (“to sway, dangle, hesitate”), from Proto-Indo-European *del-, *dul- (“to shake, hesitate”). Equivalent to tealt +‎ -rian.

Cognate with Dutch touteren (“to tremble”), Norwegian dialectal totra (“to quiver, shake”), North Frisian talt, tolt (“unstable, shaky”). Related to tilt.

• IPA^(key): /ˈtæ͜ɑl.tri.ɑn/, [ˈtæ͜ɑɫ.tri.ɑn]

tealtrian

1. to shake, stagger, be unsteady, be uncertain, vacillate

   Wē tealtrigaþ tȳdran mōde hwearfiaþ hēanlīce

   We totter with feeble mind and wander with humility

   Ðȳ læs ðe ðæt ēasterlīce gescēad tealtrige

   Lest that the Easter calculation be uncertain

   Ðȳ læs se steall cyricean tealtrian ongunne

   Lest the standing (of affairs) began to shake the church

• tealt (“unsteady”)
• tealtian

• Middle English: talteren (as talterande), toteren
  • English: tolter, totter

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