v.
Cl past pl. ouertok; Pat ouertan
‘to overtake; ?to regain’
(Modern English overtake)OE ofer + take, and cp. OIcel yfirtak ‘an overtaking, surpassing’ and taka yfir ‘to extend over; (impers.) to come to an end, succeed’.
PGmc Ancestor
*tak-
Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)
taka ‘to take’, cp. yfirtak (n.) ‘an overtaking, surpassing
(ONP taka (2) (vb.), cp. yfirtak (sb.))
Other Scandinavian Reflexes
Far taka, Icel taka, Norw taka, Dan tage, OSw taka, tagha, Sw taga
OE Cognate
Phonological and morphological markers
Summary category
B2
Widespread in ME in a variety of senses.
Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus
Gaw 2387; Pat 127
The sense at Gaw 2387 ‘letez me ouertake your wylle’ has been much discussed: it is normal to take your wylle as the object of the v., in which case ouertake can be rendered ‘regain’ (TGD and most others, inc. MED sense 2c), ‘gain’ (PSn), ‘understand’ (GDS, AW) or ‘work’ (Vant 2387n); but Emerson (1992a: 408) and Wright (1935: 178) prefer to make your wylle the subject, and hence offer ‘let your good will … overtake or possess me’, ‘let your will take control of me’. For discussion see Rynell 1948: 193.