biseme

v. (wk.)

Gaw past. sg. bisemed; Pe bysemeWA pres. 3 sg. besemysbesemes

‘to befit, become, suit’ (Modern English beseem)

Etymology

Formed on seme (v.) with OE prefix be-.

PGmc Ancestor

*sōmi-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

sóma ‘to beseem, become, befit’; sœma ‘to honour’
(ONP sóma (vb.); sǿma (vb.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Icel sóma; Far, søma, Icel sæma, Norw søma, ODan søme, Dan sømme, OSw söma, syma

OE Cognate

(ge)sēman ‘to smooth over, put right, settle, reconcile, pacify’

Phonological and morphological markers

Summary category

C3

Attestation

Common and widespread from early ME.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Gaw 622, 1612, 2035, etc.; Pe 310; WA 439, 2944

Bibliography

MED bisēmen (v.) , OED beseem (v.) , HTOED , Dance biseme