Stolne

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Archaic past participle of steal, describing something taken from someone without permission or right
2. An old form of the past participle of steal, used for goods secretly or unlawfully taken from another person
3. Obsolete wording meaning obtained by theft, referring to property that was taken unlawfully and kept by the taker

Etymology: "Stolne" is an older past participle of "steal," a form that survived in English for centuries before "stolen" pushed it aside. The verb itself reaches back to Old English "stelan," and its relatives in Dutch, German, Swedish and Icelandic all share the same sense of taking something secretly. The most striking clue to the verb's older life lies in its cousins beyond Germanic. Russian "krastʹ" means "to steal," while "krástʹsja" means "to stalk, prowl, or slink," suggesting that the idea of stealth once sat close to the act of taking. Some scholars link the Germanic root to a Proto-Indo-European sense of sneaking, though these links remain proposals rather than settled fact.

Synonyms: pilfer, purloin, filch, thieve, nick

Antonyms: return, restore, give