Middle English Dictionary Entry

yēten v.(2)
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Entry Info

Forms yēten v.(2) Also ȝete, ȝette(n, ȝote, ȝoth, (N or NWM) yate, ȝate, giate & (early) ȝetti(e, ȝeate, gete(n, geate, gæte, iete, (Orm.) ȝatenn; sg.3 yetes, ȝetteð, (early SW) ȝet; p. gat(te, (N) yat(te, ȝate, (early) ȝet(te, ȝatte, geatte, iætte & ȝeted, (N) yatid, (early) ȝet(t)ede; pl. gatten, (early) getton, geatton, geotton, ietten; ppl. ȝet, (N) yeit & (Orm.) ȝatedd.
Etymology LOE *gēatan, p. gēatte & ON (cp. OI jāta, jātta).

Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)

Note: Cp. iyetten v.
1.
(a) To convey (sth. to sb. or an institution) by a grant; bestow (sth. on sb.), confer; accord (sth. to sb.); provide (sth., sth. for sb.); ~ and yeven, yeven and ~; (b) to yield (sth.) up; allow (sth. to sb.); ben ȝet, of gates to a city: be given (into someone’s power or control); (c) to give (a woman to sb.) as a bride; (d) to restore (sth. to sb.);—?error for yelden v. 4.(c); (e) to give (counsel to sb.).
Show 17 Quotations
2.
(a) To give one’s assent to (a request), look favorably upon, grant; ?also, give one’s obedience to (a command) [last quot.]; (b) to grant (sb. his request, a boon, etc.), do (sb. a favor besought); (c) to accede to the request of (a petitioner), yield to the wishes of.
Show 19 Quotations
3.
(a) To make a formal affirmation [1st quot.]; give one’s affirmation to (an agreement, a grant, etc.), confirm; also, join in invoking (a religious interdict); (b) to give one’s agreement (that one will do sth.), concede; (c) to allow (sb. to do sth.); also, with preceding noun clause and pleonastic hit: grant (that sth. should occur), permit; (d) in invocations or expressions of strong desire: ȝete, may (God) let it be that (sth. occur, sb. do sth.), would that.
Show 13 Quotations
4.
(a) To acknowledge (a fault or misdeed), confess; (b) to acknowledge (that sth. is so), admit; (c) ?to acknowledge, concede; (d) ?to admit to (sth.), intend.
Show 6 Quotations

Supplemental Materials (draft)

  • (c1300) Havelok (LdMisc 108)1674 : Hwann he hauede his wille [?w]at [?read: yat], þe stede, Jat he onne-sat, Smot ubbe with spures faste, And forth awey.
    • Note: Skeat, unsure of MS reading here (either "wat" (with initial wyn) or "þat" (with initial thorn)), prints as "w-", glossed as "known," the past participle of wot. In his Clarendon Press Series student edition, he transcribes as w- in the notes and emends to "quath" in the text, also omitting "hauede" and supplying "þat" to fill out the line, i.e. "Hwanne [þat] he his wille quath"--a rather thorough-going emendation in order to interpret the form as a past singular (of quethen). Smithers, expressing the view accepted here, retains the line as written, but emends the problematic word to "yat," defined in his glossary as "acceded to," the past participle of a verb derived from ON játta, perhaps via LOE geatan, i.e. MED yeten v.(2), sense 2.(a). The word that Skeat took as his model in the student edition ('wat' in line 595 (Smithers l. 596)) is described in both glossaries as the past sg. of quethenv.
Note: New form (p.ppl. (?error) in 'wat').

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