Weorthan

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Old English verb meaning to come to be in a certain state ; to take place or come about as an event
2. An Old English verb for becoming something or entering a condition ; for an event to occur or befall someone
3. Meaning to grow into a state or condition in Old English ; describing something that happens or comes to pass

Etymology: Old English "weorthan" meant "to become, to come to be, to happen", and it is the ancestor of the modern verb "worth" only in the sense of its past tense "wurdon" and related forms. The verb itself is a strong verb that followed the pattern of "weorþan, wearþ, wurdon, worden", so its forms survive in modern English as "was" and "were" in the sense of "happened". The more familiar English verb "be" and its forms "was" and "were" share an origin with this verb, and in the past tense, "wurde" and "wurdon" gave rise to forms that are now used as the past of "be". Note that the modern English word "worth" in the sense of value is a different word. It comes from a separate Old English adjective "weorþ", meaning "valuable" or "worthy", and it has no connection to the verb in its sense of "to become". The two words share a spelling in Old English only by coincidence of their forms, which is why readers often confuse the sense of "to come about" with the sense of value.