Andbindan

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Old English verb meaning to untie, loosen, or set free something that has been bound or fastened
2. An Old English verb for undoing a binding, unfastening a knot or releasing a person or thing from restraints
3. Used in Old English to describe loosening ties or cords and freeing whatever had been fastened together

Etymology: Old English "andbindan" meant "to unbind" or "to undo the bonds of," and it is built from "and-," a prefix meaning "against" or "back" (as in German "ent-" and "Ant-"), joined to "bindan," "to bind." The prefix shows up in a handful of Old English verbs where the sense is reversal or opposition, so the word is essentially a compound of "against" plus "bind," the act of loosing what was tied. Its main claim to interest is its rarity: "andbindan" survives only in a small number of Old English texts, where it appears in religious and poetic contexts about loosing or releasing. Because it was never widely used, it did not pass into Middle English and has no modern descendant. Most of what we know about it comes from dictionary-building work on surviving Old English manuscripts rather than from any continuous tradition of use.