underniman

From Proto-West Germanic *underneman. Equivalent to under- +‎ niman. Akin to Old Saxon undarniman and Old High German untarneman.

• IPA^(key): /ˌun.derˈni.mɑn/

underniman

1. to steal
2. (figuratively) to receive, take upon oneself, undertake (to take into the mind what is said or taught)
   • c. 992, Ælfric, "The Nativity of St. Andrew the Apostle"

     Ġif ðū leornian wille hū þæt ġewurðan mæġe, þonne undernim ðū leorning-cnihtes hīw, þæt þū ðās ġerȳnu leornian mæġe.

     If you wish to learn how that can be, then undertake the character of a disciple (literally “of a learning-boy”), to be able to learn this mystery.

• See niman.

• Middle English: undernimen

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