Finding the Roots of "To Find"
We take many words in the English language for granted. Especially our verbs.
We use the verb “find” all the time in our day-to-day life in English speaking countries. “Can you find that for me?” “I’m finding myself.” “I found it!” et cetera. But where did it come from?
In the context of how we use the word “find” in Modern English, the Old English word for “To Find” was “findan,” which is Germanic in origin and related to the verbs “vinden” (Dutch) and “finden” (German), which have the same respective meanings (Oxford Languages). This might have you wondering “If this is the Old English ‘to find’, then what is the Proto verb?” Well, findan seems to be directly taken from Proto-Germanic, which was the same thing and meant “To come upon, discover” (etymonline.com).
The word “findan” has been found in Beowulf about eight times (from my searches), the first one being in stanza 207, “findan mihte” (hieronymus.us.com).
The Latin word for “To Find” comes from the PIE root for “to go,” “pent-”. This is shown in words such as “pedestrian.”
Middle English was said to have a similar word for the verb, but with one letter changed, making it the same as the German word for “to find,” “finden” (cooljugator.com). However, through looking at texts from the Middle English period, I have found that the word was actually“Fynde,” with various spelling discrepancies (“The same shall ye fynde by me” (Adam Bell, Clim of Clough, and William of Cloudesely)).
Now, it is much easier to believe that the word “fynde” was the Middle English word for “find,” since they are spelled reasonably similar, and were probably pronounced the same. It is
especially believable once you look at how they spelled some other words in Middle English. Sorry, cooljugator.com, I’m just not buying that it was “finden”.
Middle English brings us to Early Modern English, which seems to be the same with a few spelling discrepancies. So, from around 1485 (the estimated start of Early Modern English) we have been using the word “find”. “The more mind you have, the more men you’ll find that have something special about them.” (Pensées, Blaise Pascal).
I’m glad we found the roots of the word “find,” especially since it’s such a common word to use.
Sources
Adam Bell, Clim of the Clough, and William of Cloudesley. Middle English Text Series. (n.d.).
https://metseditions.org/read/R2WqvrGt1jEPT03l4Cv6kAt5ajq4p6wB
Etymology of find. Cooljugator. (n.d.). https://cooljugator.com/etymology/en/find
Find (v.). Etymology. (n.d.). https://www.etymonline.com/word/find
Pensées. earlymoderntexts.com. (n.d.).
https://www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/pascal1660.pdf
Regan, B. T. (n.d.). Beowulf. Beowulf - Old & Modern English.
https://www.hieronymus.us.com/latinweb/Mediaevum/Beowulf.htm