Ceorian

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. An Old English verb meaning to grieve, mourn, or lament over a loss or misfortune
2. A archaic Old English term for feeling sorrow and expressing grief or distress over something
3. Used in Old English to describe the act of mourning, wailing, or lamenting one's troubles

Etymology: Old English "ceorian" meant "to lament" or "to grieve," and it belonged to a small group of verbs that expressed sorrow through the sound of distress. Its root is the Germanic "*karōn," which carries the sense of care or worry, and the same root gave Old English "caru," meaning care, anxiety or sorrow. So the modern word "care" and this verb are close kin: both trace back to the idea of heaviness of heart, though "care" softened over time into a gentler sense of attention and concern while "ceorian" faded out of use. The verb is attested in Old English poetry and prose, where it describes grief over the dead or over a lost situation. Its descendant in modern English is "chare" and "char," though "chare" is not the same as this verb and should not be confused with it. The Old English form is best seen as one stage in the long movement of a word for worry into a word for everyday attention.