Friday, June 6, 2025

Insight: Exploring the age of English words

By Ed Pierce
Managing Editor


Sometime in the 1970s, I recall watching a television show on PBS about English language words and how you could tell a verb’s age by the way it is conjugated.

For example, if the past tense of some verbs in English end in a “t” it is likely an older word than the past tense of one ending in “ed.”

The university professor who was giving this presentation said that words such as keep, sweep, leap and send are derivatives of older Celtic words which remain to this day in modern English. The past tense of keep is kept, for sweep it is swept, feel becomes felt and send is sent.

By this logic, the professor concluded that other old English verbs include sleep and creep, with the past tense of sleep being slept and creep becoming crept. Weep’s past tense is wept, lend becomes lent, spend’s past tense is spent, while the past tense of lose is lost and for leave, it’s left.

He went on to say that bend is an older English word because it’s past tense is bent, while the past tense of mean is meant, deal is dealt, and build is built.

Other older English verbs by his definition then would include buy (bought), catch (caught), bring (brought), seek (sought), teach (taught) and think (thought).

Because some newer verbs were introduced later to the English language and were first conjugated with a “t” but can also be conjugated in the past tense with an “ed,” the professor suggested these words were newer in origin.

These verbs include burn, dream, kneel, leap, learn, smell, spell, spill and spoil. Using very old English, some authors may say burnt, but nowadays the preferred term in modern English is burned. Same thing holds true for dreamt (dreamed), knelt (kneeled), learnt (learned), smelt (smelled), spelt (spelled), spilt (spilled), and spoilt (spoiled).

Through time, several other older English verbs conjugated in past tense can have two different words meaning the same thing, such as pass, pen, and bereave. The past tense of pass can either be past or passed, while pen’s past tense can be pent or penned, and bereave’s past tense can be bereft or bereaved.

In his presentation, the professor said some of the older Celtic verbs are thought to have been spoken by the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, originating from northwest Germany, southern Denmark, and the Netherlands. They brought their Germanic-based dialects to England and these dialects combined with Celtic languages already being used set the cornerstone for the old English language. That became modified with infusions of older Norse as Viking invaders raided parts of early Britain and were further shaped by the Norman conquest of England in 1066 which introduced some French influences into the English dialect.

Old English words thought to have come from Vikings are knife, freckle, berserk, window, sky, husband, aloft, awkward, bag, blunder, and droop.

Some examples of newer English words with French influences, the professor said, contain “ch” and “que” and “ou” such as machine, unique, antique and boutique or youth and soup. Other newer verbs of French influence in English that came after the Norman invasion can be conjugated in the past tense with “ed” instead of “t” and include waste (wasted), and taste (tasted).

The Renaissance during the 16th century was yet another period when new words were added to the English language, the professor said. Some came from Latin origins and were introduced by scholars of that time such as atrocity, debilitate, ferrous, naïve and stipend while others derived from Greek origins including duo, pneumonia, and gravity.

Back in 2009, a study conducted by Reading University in England found that the oldest words in the English language include “I”, “we”, “who”, “two” and “three,” all dating back to at least in common use prior to the Norman invasion. The discovery was made by tracking the divergence of ancestral words into different languages including old English using a supercomputer and before the introduction of AI technology.

Many older English words commonly used centuries ago never quite made it into the modern English language and the list is lengthy.

Here’s a sampling of few old English words no longer used today and their meanings:

“Afeared” or “Afeardt,” meaning frightened.

“Bodkin,” meaning a dagger.

“Contumely” meaning insulting behavior.

“Cumberground” meaning a totally useless person or a total waste of space.

“Demesne” meaning domain, realm or territory.

“Doxy” meaning a mistress.

“Elflock” meaning wavy or tangled hair.

“Frore” meaning extremely cold.

“Jargogle” meaning jumbled.

“Lollop” meaning a drunken or foolish person.

“Maegth” meaning family.

“Recreant” meaning cowardly.

“Sluberdegullion” meaning slovenly.

“Varlet” meaning a crook or a conman.

“Wamblecropt” meaning someone who is overcome with indigestion.

“Wundorlic” meaning a feeling of wonder mixed with fear or the awe experienced when seeing something both marvelous and unsettling.

Taking a deeper dive into the English language can be both fascinating or frustrating and yet with everything else going on in our lives these days, examining the origins of certain words and conjugations may not appear near the top of many people’s lists of things to do.

But it can be interesting to learn the age of some commonly used words today. <

Level up and make your bed: Hugelkultur drives our frugal culture

By Michelle Cote
The Rookie Mama


I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, gardening is a solid metaphor for raising kiddos. You plan, you plot, and once your sweet sturdy seedlings are firmly planted, ready to take on this world, you can only hope the fruits of your labor thrive on up despite unpredictable elements and cautions thrown to wind that comes their way.

And – it’s a dirty business.

My husband and I have exponentially upped our vegetable gardening game since becoming parents a teenaged handful of years ago, and though we do this in part for the unbridled joy and satisfaction it brings, and sunshine felt, growing our own greens is also an absolute necessity in order to feed our large by today’s standards family.

We’ve built a series of raised beds in recent years to be kind to our future backs. And though we function as a DIY compost family operation, the truth is we don’t produce quite enough to fill enormous beds when they are newly built from scratch.

Enter the centuries-old Hugelkultur – pronounced ‘hoo-gul-culture’ – which leads our frugal culture. If you have access to logs, branches, other organic materials and kiddos with helping hands, this German gardening technique – literally translating to ‘mound bed’ – is a fun workout for the entire family.

Move over, Peleton.

Hugelkultur is a foundation of large logs or other woody debris layered up compost, leaves, grass clippings and organic matter, then topped with garden soil. As these materials decompose, water is retained, weeds suppressed, nutrients released, and the stage is set for a well-drained growing extravaganza.

And because these logs and branches are literally found items around the property, that’s where the frugal part comes in.

Debris – It’s free!

Yet having so much of it for this purpose helps us feel rich.

A few weeks ago, our older children dragged over some cut logs we’d recently chopped, and we stacked and organized them in the bottoms of our two newest beds.

My husband chopped larger logs in half to fit.

Like building a fire, that same excitement, that anticipation filled us. We’d recently pruned our orchard trees and other plants and saved the trimmings just for this purpose. Even our littlest was in on the action and tossed those branches and boughs into helpful heaps.

Before we knew it, we beheld a beautiful lasagna rich with organic materials – just no ricotta cheese.

We’ve since topped each bed with gorgeous compost in the top third and planted our seeds and seedlings.

The invaluable strength of simple logs and branches – Did I mention it’s free?

This past Sunday morning we toted our boys to a salvage store and our 4-year-old asked for a metal rake and shovel set just his size so he could help in the garden.

Help he did, as he assisted in transplanting strawberries, kale, potatoes, melon, asparagus, beans, cukes, and more yummy favorites.

We can only hope to feast on what grows of it in the future and preserve for winter.

We made our beds, so to speak, and so now we lie.

And I’d be lying if I said getting my littlest involved was a straightforward, easy breeze.

Eventually he scampered off to play with toy tractors.

But I must remind myself to grow patient while growing greens, that these are teachable moments and life skills for next-generation gardeners while their attention is rapt.

Laying solid foundations and weaving in frugal living skills – We can do this.

And so we wait.

For harvest, for fruits of labor built on that free debris.

And in the meantime, I’ve now worked up an appetite for lasagna.

With all the ricotta cheese.

­­– Michelle Cote lives in southern Maine with her husband and four sons, and enjoys camping, distance running, biking, gardening, road trips to new regions, arts and crafts, soccer, and singing to musical showtunes – often several or more at the same time!

Tim Nangle: Strong communities start at the ballot box

By Senator Tim Nangle

One of the most important things we can do as citizens is vote — not just every two or four years, but also in the local elections that shape our day-to-day lives. On Tuesday, June 10, all five towns in our district — Casco, Frye Island, Raymond, Westbrook and Windham — will hold municipal elections. These ballots will include a range of items, such as town and school budgets, races for the select and school board, and other important local questions.

State Senator
Tim Nangle
It might not always make headlines, but what happens in local government matters deeply. Decisions about school funding, road repairs, emergency services and property taxes all start at the municipal level. These are the issues that most directly affect our kids’ classrooms, the quality of our drinking water and the conditions of the streets we drive on every day.

In the Senate, I’ve been proud to vote for legislation that delivers funding to our municipalities and schools, supporting them in crafting their budgets. But before I was elected to the Maine Senate, I served as a town councilor in Windham. My experience there taught me just how much local decisions and the people who make them rely on input from engaged residents. When more people participate in these elections, we create stronger communities and a more accountable government. Your vote helps shape the direction of your town, whether it's by considering a school budget or selecting someone to sit on the board that oversees it.

If you’ve never voted in a June election before, or if you’re not sure what’s on the ballot this year, I encourage you to take a few minutes to find out. Voting is simple, and your local town office can help answer questions about registration, absentee ballots or what’s on the ballot.

Here’s when and where to vote in each town on June 10:

Windham:

Polling Location: Windham High School's Auxiliary Gym, 406 Gray Road
Polling Hours: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
On the Ballot: RSU #14 Budget Validation Referendum

Additionally, Windham’s Annual Town Meeting will be held on June 14 at the Windham Town Hall Gymnasium, at 8 School Road, to adopt the 2025-2026 annual budget.

Raymond:

Polling Location: Jordan-Small Middle School Gym
Polling Hours: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
On the Ballot: RSU #14 Budget Validation Referendum; Annual Town Warrant; Two Select Board members; Three Budget-Finance Committee members; One RSU Board of Directors member

Casco:

Polling Location: Crooked River Elementary School, 1437 Poland Spring Road
Polling Hours: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
On the Ballot: Selectboard Member; MSAD #61 Board of Directors Member; Open Space Commission Member; Casco Naples Transfer Station Council Member

Frye Island:


Polling Location: Fairway Lane, Frye Island
Polling Hours: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
On the Ballot: Four positions for MSAD #6 At-Large School Board Director; MSAD #6 Budget Validation Referendum

Westbrook:

Polling Location: Westbrook Community Center, 426 Bridge St.
Polling Hours: 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
On the Ballot: Municipal School Budget Validation Referendum

Let’s not take for granted the chance to make our voices heard. Make sure you make a plan to vote on June 10. I hope to see a strong turnout in our district. Local government works best when it reflects the people it serves — and that starts with you.

As always, if you have questions, concerns, or ideas for how state government can work better for you, please don’t hesitate to reach out. You can contact me at Tim.Nangle@legislature.maine.gov or reach the Senate office at 207-287-1515. <

Andy Young: The graduation speech that wasn’t delivered

By Andy Young

I wasn’t asked to speak at my school's graduation ceremony this weekend, but If I had been, here’s what the attendees would have heard.

Congratulations, Class of 2025. You’ve made it!

I commend you honor students for your lofty GPAs, but for all of you: your grades no longer matter, and neither does what team(s) you played for, who you took to the prom, or, for that matter, if you even attended the prom!

College, a good job, or military service are all worthwhile next steps. But for each one of you, the greatest part of leaving high school is getting the chance to reinvent yourself.

An opportunity like this doesn’t come along very often, so don’t waste it, because before you know it, you’ll be surrounded by people who’ll see you primarily in your role as a plumber, hairdresser, doctor, coach, teacher, and/or parent. And when that happens, you’ll find yourself conforming to certain behaviors because, well, that’s what people expect of plumbers, hairdressers, doctors, coaches, teachers, parents, and/or other community members they think they know.

Sooner or later, you’ll acquire a perceived outer persona which, like it or not, will be yours for a long time to come. Many of you have already been pigeonholed into certain identities. Look around you. Admit it: you yourself see many of your peers primarily in their current guise(s): class clown, athlete, burnout, bookworm, artist, snitch, chic dresser, gearhead, suck-up, actor, slacker, trusted confidant, or rebel.

Just like many of them (often inaccurately) see you.

Trust me: you don’t want to be universally perceived in any one particular context no matter how attractive it seems today. And now is one of the few specific junctures in life when you can conveniently initiate meaningful personal alteration.

I myself never considered changing anything after high school. Why would I? I was in the midst of a two-decade adolescence that was my ultimate comfort zone. But at age 30, I found myself training for a new job, 1,000 miles from home in a roomful of people who knew absolutely nothing about me. That’s when I experienced an epiphany that I hope all of you do today. I realized I could be anyone I wanted to be! No one knew if I was an athlete, a musician, or a thespian. Was I an introvert, or the life of the party? Democrat, Republican, Independent, or politically unconcerned? At that moment. I could present myself to these new colleagues however I saw fit. If I were ever going to change others’ perception of me, this was the time.

I listened more and talked less that day, dialed back the jokes, and interacted a bit more cautiously than I did with people who I had known for years.

Ultimately, I didn’t make any radical changes, because for the most part I liked who I was. Thankfully there’s no law requiring you to alter your personality.

But don’t be like me and wait until you’re 30 years old to take advantage of having a clean slate. Understand that starting now, the first day of the rest of your life, you can be whoever and whatever you want to be.

It’s probably not a coincidence that I wasn't asked to be the commencement speaker at the school where I currently teach, or at any of the ones I attended as a student, despite my having amassed 35 years of valuable high school experience.

But I’ll get another fresh start when school reopens in 10 weeks. And that’s more than enough time to undergo some subtle reinvention, if that’s what I feel is necessary. <