Deafnian

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Old English verb meaning to lose one's hearing and grow deaf over time
2. Used in Old English to describe the process of a person becoming unable to hear
3. An archaic verb for the act of going deaf, losing the ability to perceive sound

Etymology: Deafnian is the Old English verb meaning "to become deaf," formed from the adjective "deaf" with the verbal suffix "-nian," a common Old English pattern for turning adjectives into verbs of becoming (compare "hardnian," to harden). Its root, "deaf," goes back to Proto-Germanic "daubaz," which also gave Old High German "toub" and Old Norse "daufr," and it is traced further to a root meaning "stupefied" or "dazed," the same sense that appears in the related Old Norse "daufr." The sense of "deaf" as "unable to hear" was the earlier meaning, not a later extension. Because the verb is formed directly from the adjective, it is a transparent compound-style formation rather than a borrowing, and it survived in Middle English only in a reduced form before being replaced by later verbs such as "deafen," which was formed in English from the adjective with a different suffix. Few other Old English verbs in "-nian" from adjectives survive unchanged today, so this one is a useful reminder of how English once built its own verbs.