ealdian

From Proto-West Germanic *aldēn. Equivalent to eald (“old”) +‎ -ian.

• IPA^(key): /ˈæ͜ɑl.di.ɑn/, [ˈæ͜ɑɫ.di.ɑn]

ealdian

1. to grow or be old, become old
   • Homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church

     Witodlīċe ūres andġites meriġen is ūre ċildhād, ūre cnihthād swylċe underntīd, on þām astihð ūre ġeogoð, swā swā sēo sunne deð ymbe þǣre ðriddan tīde; ūre fulfremeda wæstm swā swā middæġ, forðan ðe on midne dæġ bið sēo sunne on ðām ufemestum ryne stiġende, swā swā sē fulfremeda wæstm bið on fulre strencðe þēonde. Sēo nōntīd bið ūre yld, forðan ðe on nōntīde asihð sēo sunne, and ðǣs ealdiġendan mannes mæġen bið waniġende. Sēo endlyfte tīd bið sēo forwerode ealdnyss, þām dēaðe ġenēalǣċende, swā swā sēo sunne setlunge ġenēalǣhð on þǣs dæġes ġeendunge.

     Truly, the morning of our cognizance is our childhood, our youth is like the underntide, when our youth rises, just as the sun does around the third hour; our complete growth is like midday, since in the middle of the day the sun rises to the highest point in its course, just as our complete growth is flourishing in full strength. The noontide is our age, for at noontide the sun starts to go down, as the aging man's strength is waning. The eleventh hour is worn-out old age, approaching death, like the sun approaches its setting at the end of the day.

• onealdian, forealdian, ætealdod, geealdian

• Middle English: alden, olden
  • English: old, eld

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