fón

Part of speech: verb

Verb type: strong verb (7)

(pres ic fó, ðú féhst, he féhþ, pl fóþ; p ic, he fénȝ, ðú fénȝe, pl fénȝon; p.p. fanȝen, fonȝen) 1. to grasp, seize, catch; 2. to receive, obtain; 3. to begin, start; fón tó ríce to ascend the throne; to seize power

Etymology

[Mod E FANG obs, dial “to grasp, hold, seize; to lay hold of” ← Prot-Germ *fanhan; Goth fahan; O Fris fā; O Sax fāhan; Dt vangen; OHG fāhan (Mod G fangen); Icel fá ← Indo-Europ *paḱ-, *paġ-; cf Anc Gr πηγνῡμι “to stick in; to secure, fix”; Lat pangere “to fasten; to fix”; pāx “piece”]

Paradigm

4.1.7. - VII class

The seventh class includes strong verbs, which in Proto-Germanic (and also in Gothic) formed their past tense forms by means of the reduplication of the verbal stem (cf Goth háitan [ʹhaɪtan] (to call, name) and haíháit [ʹhɛhaɪt] (he/she called, named)).

In Anglo-Saxon, the traces of the reduplication are retained only by p tense forms of some verbs; e.g. héht p of v hátan (to call, name; to order); léolc p of v lácan (to play; to jump); réord p of v rǽdan (to advise, counsel); ondreord p of v ondrǽdan (to dread, fear); léort (← *leolt) p of v lǽtan (to let, allow; to leave).

In the seventh class of the Anglo-Saxon strong verbs, their two main versions can be distinguished: the one with -é- in both stems of p tense; and another one with -éo- in both stems of p tense.

In addition, the seventh class includes verbs (fón, hón – vid below), which are characterized by the vowel contraction as a result of the dropping of the consonant h and by consonant change in accordance with Verner’s law.

VII class	infinitive	past tense singular	past tense plural	past participle
to call, name	hátan	héht, hét	héhton, héton	háten
to fall (down)	feallan	féol, féoll	féollon	feallen
to grasp, seize	fón	fénȝ	fénȝon	fanȝen, fonȝen
to hang, suspend	hón	hénȝ	hénȝon	hanȝen, honȝen

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