Founde

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. An archaic spelling of the past tense of find, meaning to have come upon or discovered something by chance or search
2. Old-fashioned past tense of the verb find, used in older English to mean having located or come across a thing
3. A Middle English form of the past tense of find, signifying that someone had discovered or encountered something

Etymology: "Founde" is an older spelling of "found," the simple past and past participle of "find." Its roots go back to a Proto-Indo-European word meaning "to go, pass," and the connection to walking is the surprise: "find" was built from the idea of getting to a place by going along a path. Germanic speakers formed a secondary verb from that base, and it gradually narrowed from "come upon by travelling" to "discover." The same ancient root gave English "path," along with Latin "pōns" ("bridge") and Greek "póntos" ("sea," originally a passage or way across). Old Irish "étain" ("I find") and Sanskrit "pathá" ("path") share the root too, so the verb's origin lies in movement rather than in searching.