Tynen

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. An archaic English verb meaning to lose something or to be deprived of it, used in older texts
2. Dated verb meaning to suffer the loss of a possession, person, or advantage in earlier English
3. Old-fashioned term for losing or forfeiting something, found in medieval and early modern writing

Etymology: The verb survives mainly in Northern English and Scots dialect, where "tyne" means to lose something, or to be left with less than you had. Its Middle English form was "tinen" or "tynen," and it is related to the Old English verb "tēonian," meaning to injure or harm, which points to a sense of loss as damage. Because the verb sounds like "tine," the word for a prong on a fork or antler, readers often assume they are one word. They are not: the prong word comes from a different Old English source. Some older writers use the verb in the sense of wasting or destroying something, which shows how close loss and harm once were in meaning.