syne

English

Etymology

From Middle English syne, syn, sin, a contracted form of sithen (“since”). More at sithen.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /saɪn/
• Homophone: sign, sine
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /səin/
• Homophones: Seine, sane, sain,
• Rhymes: -aɪn

Adverb

syne (comparative more syne, superlative most syne)

1. (Scotland, Northern England) Subsequently; then. [from 14th c.]
   • 1866, Susanna Blamire, edited by Sidney Gilpin, Songs and Poems, page 17:

     At last he comes, and on his knee
     The wee tots a'thegether cling,
     An' ilk yen strives to catch his ee,
     Syne tugs his cwoat an' bids him sing.

   • 1894, Howard Pease, The Mark o' The Deil And Other Northumbrian Tales, page 20:

     Sic a pair o' friends aa nivvor seed either before or syne.

   • 1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song (A Scots Quair; 1), Polygon, published 2006, page 38:

     Yet in two-three years they'd chaved and saved enough for gear and furnishings, and were married at last, and syne Will was born, and syne Chris herself was born, and the Guthries rented a farm in Echt […] .

2. (Scotland, Northern England, chiefly in phrases like "soon as syne") Late.
   • W. Hamilton (Life of Wallace)

     [Each rogue] shall be discovered either soon or syne.

   • 1843, Walter Scott, Waverly, page 357:

     "I had rather it came to-morrow than a month hence. Come, I know, it will; and, as your country folks say, better soon than syne  […]

3. (Scotland, Northern England) Before now; ago. [from 16th c.]
   • 1808, Allan Ramsay, The Gentle Sheperd, page 64:

     I eat, drink, and sleep as sound as I did twenty years syne; yes, I laugh heartily too, and find as many subjects to employ that faculty upon as ever; fools, fops, and knaves, grow as rank as formerly, yet here and there, […]

   • 1859, Old and Young, page 11:

     Camden Lyde had come to dwell in Mapleblade, a long while syne. His father had been in times past the parish parson, and the son was kindly affectionate to the old village scenes, and to the faces that seemed in some sort to belong to him […]

Synonyms

• (subsequently): ensuingly, followingly; see also Thesaurus:then

Preposition

syne

1. (Scotland, Northern England) Since.
   • 1840, Howitt, Hope On, page ii:

     I've niver set fute i' Gibb's Ha' syne his father's death.

   • 1880, Wooers, Banks, III, i:

     Shoo's […] gitten fair pratty, syne Maister Allen gat wed.

See also

• auld lang syne

Anagrams

• nyes, Nyes, syen, neys, NYSE, snye, yens, Neys

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch (de/het) zijne.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Pronoun

syne

1. his (that or those of him)

   Hy het my hemp aangehad en ek syne.

   He wore my shirt and I wore his.

Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse sýna (“show”), derived from the noun sjón (“sight”), see Danish syn.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈsyːnə]

Verb

syne

1. to inspect (a car or other vehicle to determine whether it is fit for use)

   Bilen er netop synet.

   The car has just been inspected.

2. to examine, appraise
   • 2012, Frans G. Bengtsson, Røde Orm I + II:

     Orm havde lagt mærke til, at Sigtrygg en tid havde stirret mørkt på ham og Toke, og et par gange havde det set ud, som om han ville sige noget; og da nu sværdene kom tilbage, synede han dem nøje og nikkede, og det så ud til, at han havde svært ved at give dem fra sig.

     Orm had noticed that Sigtrygg had, for a while, stared darkly at him and Toke, and a couple of times it had seemed as though he would say something; and now, as the swords returned, he examined them closely, nodded and seemed reluctant to give them away.

3. (intransitive) to look, appear (seem to have a certain quality)

   Det syner ikke godt.

   It does not bode well.

   • 2013, Steen Rossau, chapter 8, in Landsknægtens Daggert:

     Men de tilbageværende skavanker synede af mindre, fordi Sidsel holdt møblerne pænt rene

     But the remaining faults seemed smaller, because Sidsel kept the furniture nicely clean

4. (intransitive) be visible
   • 2010, Ole Feldbæk, Danmarks historie, page 59:

     Byernes borgere var stolte af deres kirker, hvis tårne synede milevidt ud over det omgivende landskab.

     The citizens were proud of their churches, whose towers could be seen from miles away in the surrounding landscape.

Conjugation

Inflection of syne

	present	past
simple	syner	synede
perfect	har synet	havde synet
passive	synes	synedes
participle	synende	synet
imperative	syn	—
infinitive	syne	—
auxiliary verb	have	—
gerund	synen	—

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

syne n

1. genitive form of syn

   komme til syne - to come into view

Verb

syne (present tense syner, past tense and past participle synet)

1. to appear, to become visible

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

syne n

1. kome til syne - to come into view

Verb

syne (present tense syner, past tense synte, past participle synt, passive infinitive synast, present participle synande, imperative syn)

1. Alternative form of syna

References

• “syne” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Scots

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English sīn, northern form of sithen, from Old English siþþan.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /səin/

Adverb

syne (not comparable)

1. afterwards, thereupon
2. thus, hence
3. since, ago

Derived terms

• lang syne

References

• “syn, adv.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, retrieved 24 May 2024, reproduced from William A[lexander] Craigie, A[dam] J[ack] Aitken [et al.], editors, A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1931–2002, →OCLC.
• “syne, adv., n.1, conj., prep.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, retrieved 24 May 2024, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.

Swedish

Noun

syne c

1. (archaic outside of fixed expressions) Archaic spelling of syn.

Derived terms

• se i syne
• till synes

References

• syne in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)