sowen

English

Verb

sowen

1. (obsolete) past participle of sow
   • 1589, George Puttenham, The Arte of English Poesie‎^[1]:

     And in this resembling the learning of an euill man to the seedes sowen in barren ground.

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, Spenser's The Faerie Queene, Book I‎^[2], published 1921:

     XLII And to augment the glorie of his guile, 370 His dearest love, the faire Fidessa, loe Is there possessed of the traytour vile, Who reapes the harvest sowen by his foe, Sowen in bloudy field, and bought with woe: That brothers hand shall dearely well requight, 375 So be, O Queene, you equall favour showe.

   • 1753, Theophilus Cibber, The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland‎^[3]:

     He that has his hand well put in this mittaine; He shall have multiplying of his graine, When he hath sowen, be it wheat or otes; So that he offer good pens or grotes!

Anagrams

• Owens, Snowe, no-sew, owsen, swone, wones

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English sāwan, from Proto-West Germanic *sāan, from Proto-Germanic *sēaną, from Proto-Indo-European *seh₁- (compare seed).

Alternative forms

• sau, saw, sawen, sawenn, sawyn, sawe, schewe, schewen, souwe, souwen, sowe, sowȝe, sowȝen, sowyn, sowyne, zaw

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɔu̯ən/
• (early or Northern ME) IPA^(key): /ˈsɑu̯ən/

Verb

sowen

2. To sow (seed, land with seed):
   • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎^[4], published c. 1410, Matheu 13:31-32, page 6v, column 1; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:

     An oþer parable iheſus puttide foꝛþ to hem. / ⁊ ſeide / þe kyngdom of heuenes is lijk to a coꝛn of ſeneuey · which a man took ⁊ ſewe in his feeld · / which is þe leeſt of alle ſeedis / but whanne it haþ woxen .· it is the mooſt of alle woꝛtis · ⁊ is maad a tre / ſo þe bꝛiddis of þe eir comen ⁊ dwellen in þe bowis þerof.

     Jesus put another parable forwards to them, saying: "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in their field; / it is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown, it is the largest of all plants; it becomes a tree, so the birds of the air come and nest in its branches."

3. (figurative) To scatter or disperse.
4. (figurative) To spread or propagate.
5. (rare) To beget; to originate.

Usage notes

This verb started to become weak in late Middle English, but was predominantly strong.

Conjugation

Conjugation of sowen (strong class 7 or weak in -ed)

infinitive	(to) sowen, sowe
	present tense	past tense
1st-person singular	sowe	sew, sowed
2nd-person singular	sowest	sewe, sew, sowedest
3rd-person singular	soweth	sew, sowed
subjunctive singular	sowe	sewe1, sowed1
imperative singular		—
plural2	sowen, sowe	sewen, sewe, soweden, sowede
imperative plural	soweth, sowe	—
participles	sowynge, sowende	sowen, sowe, sowed, ysowen, ysowe

¹Replaced by the indicative in later Middle English.
²Sometimes used as a formal 2nd-person singular.

Related terms

• sowere

Descendants

• English: sow
• Scots: saw, saa

References

• “souen, v.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 2

Of unknown origin; the form points to an Old English *sugian; compare sorg (“sorrow, grief”).

Alternative forms

• soghe, sow, sowe
• (early) suhie, suwie

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsuːən/

Verb

sowen (chiefly Northern)

2. To distress; to torment.
3. To feel pain or torment.

Conjugation

Conjugation of sowen (weak in -ed)

infinitive	(to) sowen, sowe
	present tense	past tense
1st-person singular	sowe	sowed
2nd-person singular	sowest	sowedest
3rd-person singular	soweth	sowed
subjunctive singular	sowe
imperative singular		—
plural1	sowen, sowe	soweden, sowede
imperative plural	soweth, sowe	—
participles	sowynge, sowende	sowed, ysowed

¹Sometimes used as a formal 2nd-person singular.

Descendants

• Scots: sou, soo

References

• “sǒuen, v.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.