traht

Middle English

Etymology

From Old English traht (“text, passage: exposition, treatise, commentary”) see below.

Noun

traht (plural trahts)

1. treatise, exposition, commentary
   • To þysen twam wifmannen awrat se ilca Jeronimus manigfealde tractbec, — Early English Homilies, c1150
   • Ðis godspel is langsum & hæfð longne traht. — Homilies in MS Bodley, c1175

Derived terms

• trahtnen — to expound, comment on, explain
• trahtnere, tractnere — An expositor, a commentator
• trahtnunge — An exposition, an explication, a treatment.

Related terms

• tract, tracte

References

• Middle English Dictionary, tract

Old English

Etymology

From trahtnian, trahtian (“to treat, comment on, expound, consider”), from Proto-Indo-European *derk- (“to see, behold, observe, notice”), cognate with Old High German trahta.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /trɑxt/

Noun

traht m (nominative plural trahtas)

1. text, passage, exposition, treatise, commentary
   • c. 992, Ælfric, "The First Sunday in Lent"

     Nu bidde ic eow þæt ge beon geðyldige on eowerum geðance, ōðþæt we ðone traht mid Godes fylste oferrædan magon.

     Now I pray you to be patient in your thoughts till, with God's assistance, we can read over the text.

Declension

Strong a-stem:

	singular	plural
nominative	traht	trahtas
accusative	traht	trahtas
genitive	trahtes	trahta
dative	trahte	trahtum

Derived terms

• ātrahtnian (“to treat, discuss”)
• godspelltraht (“gospel commentary”)
• intrahtnung (“interpretation”)
• ofertrahtnian (“to comment upon, expound”)
• sealmtraht (“exposition of psalms”)
• trahtaþ (“commentary”)
• trahtbōc (“(religious) treatise, commentary”)
• trahtere, trahtnere (“expounder, commentator, expositor”)
• trahtnung, trahtung (“explanation, exposition, commentary”)

References

• John R. Clark Hall (1916) “traht”, in A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary‎^[1], 2nd edition, New York: Macmillan
• Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller (1898) “traht”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.