Brennynge

Part of speech: verb, adjective, noun

Definitions

1. An archaic spelling for the act or condition of being set alight and consumed by fire in older English texts
2. A Middle English form meaning the process of combustion, or the state of something being on fire and giving off heat
3. Middle English term for the action of fire consuming material, or the heat and flame that results from it

Etymology: "Brennynge" is a Middle English spelling of the present participle "burning," the form that describes something in the act of burning, as in "a brennynge candle." It comes from the verb "brennen," which in Old English was "bærnan," a causative form meaning "to make burn." The Old English verb it derives from, "beornan," meant simply "to burn" as an intransitive action. The two verbs merged over time, and "burn" eventually absorbed most of the work of "brennen," which survived in Scots and northern dialects as "brenn."