þegn

Inherited from Old Norse þegn, from Proto-Germanic *þegnaz. Cognate with English thane, German Degen.

• IPA^(key): /θɛkn/
• Rhymes: -ɛkn

þegn m (genitive singular þegns, nominative plural þegnar)

1. servant, subject
2. thane

þegn

1. (Early Middle English) alternative form of theyn

• þæġn, þēn

Inherited from Proto-West Germanic *þegn.

• IPA^(key): /θejn/

þeġn m

1. servant
   • late 10th century, Ælfric, Lives of Saints

     Iob, sē ēadiġa and sē ānrǣda godes þeġn, wæs swa fulfremed on eallum gōdnyssum þæt god sylf cwæþ bē him þæt his ġelīċa nǣre þā on þām līfe ofer eorþan.

     Job, the prosperous and unwavering servant of god, was so perfect in all his good deeds that God Himself said that there was no one like him living on Earth.

2. (poetic) man, warrior, hero
3. officer
   • late 10th century, Ælfric, "Saint Sebastian, Martyr"

     Þa wurdon hi ealle þurh þæt wundor ablicgede and þæs þægnes gebedda ðe þa gebroþra heold wæs for six gearum for swiðlicre untrumnysse...

     Then they were all astonished at that miracle; and the wife of the officer, who had charge of the brothers, for six years, through a severe sickness...

Strong a-stem:

• Middle English: theyn, dain, thain, thayn, thein, þen, þein, þeyn, ðæin, þægen, þægn, þegen, þegn, þeȝn, þeign (Early Middle English)
  • English: thane
  • Scots: thane
  • → Irish: taen

Inherited from Proto-Germanic *þegnaz.

þegn m

1. thane, franklin, freeman, man
2. a good (liberal) man
3. liegeman, subject

• Icelandic: þegn
• Old Swedish: þæghn, þiæghn
  • Swedish: tegn, tägn

• Zoëga, Geir T. (1910) “þegn”, in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 509; also available at the Internet Archive