inkweđan

What is meant by the word inkweđan and why is this concept so important to Aldsido? As I have described in What is Đie Frankisk Aldsido it translates to ‘act accordingly’. It should be obvious why it is important to act accordingly or in a manner which is deemed the norm by one’s folk. Without a set guideline as to what is appropriate behaviour and what is deemed offensive, there would be no social order.

So let’s look at the root of inkweđan to break down its meaning. First and foremost we have kweđen. According to Koebler, what is meant by this root is ‘speak’, ‘bless’ or ‘rede’. Therefore at its very core the concept of inkweđan denotes words, what one says. The suffix in- has the same meaning as the English in, on, to or with. So when combined the word means ‘(to be) in speech’. Yet, kweđen does not simple mean ‘speech’ in the lay sense of the word. It does not refer to words in general. This is due to the added denotation of ‘bless’ which was used as an equivalent to the Latin benedicere. In related Germanic languages, the word referred to forms of speech which related to functions within society. A good example of this would be in the OS words gikwethan ‘to announce’, bringing knowledge to a group of people; andkwethan ‘to object’, going against suggestion or orders; withkwethan ‘to renounce’, to protest against. In short, kweđen is speech with social implications (Keobler).

We do have a version of this word which has survived in our modern English vocabulary but harkens back to the days of Old English. What I am referring to here is bequeath, which as you may be aware, is now used solely in the context of a will ‘I bequeath... to you’. The OED gives the definition as leave by will. In older days, to bequeath something was to proclaim aloud that you would do or give something to another which as you can imagine had social implications.

I have also introduced the term *unkweđanlīk which although has no known counterpart in the elder language, the formation of the word falls within acceptable guidelines. For if we break it down we get un- ‘no’ and –līk ‘like, -ly’. This coupled with kweđen gives the sense ‘to be misspoken like’. I admit that this opposing term to inkweđan is more to do with easing the modern heathen into a state of Frankish werldenskouwunga than being 100% authentic to the language, a necessity in my opinion.

Therefore you can see why it is that this terminology, this concept, is important to Aldsido. Everything that we say does have an effect on our kin and as such we cause change in our society especially the hīwiski. It is for this reason that emphasis must be put upon the power of our words to cause such change to society within the framework of Aldsido.

Erik Lacharity