This week's theme: archaic words.

ween (ween) verb tr., intr.

   To think, suppose, believe.

[From Old English wenan (to expect), from the Indo-European root wen-
(to desire or to strive for) that's also the source of wish, win,
venerate, venison, Venus, and banya. It's the same word that shows
up in "overweening".]

-Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)

  "But well I ween that Gryffyth will never keep troth* with the English."
   Edward Bulwer-Lytton; Harold, the Last of the Saxon Kings; 1848.
   [*troth: promise, loyalty]

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Pronunciation:
http://wordsmith.org/words/ween.mp3

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