esne

Learned borrowing from Old English esne, from Proto-West Germanic *asnī, from Proto-Germanic *asnijaz (“day labourer, hireling”), from Proto-Germanic *asniz, *asunz (“reward”), from Proto-Indo-European *os(e)n-, *es(e)n- (“summer, harvest, harvest-time”). Related to Old English earnian (“to labor for, strive after, deserve as the reward of labor, merit, earn, win”). More at earn.

esne (plural esnes)

1. (Anglo-Saxon, historical) A hireling of servile status; slave.
   • 1818, Samuel Heywood, A dissertation upon the distinctions in society:

     To an esne, therefore, I refer the entry in Doomsday-book, that at Chester, if a male or female slave shall do any […]

   • 1875, William Stubbs, The constitutional history of England, in its origin and development:

     […] of British extraction captured or purchased, — or of the common German stock descended from the slaves of the first colonists: the esne or slave who works for hire; […]

   • 2011, David Anthony Edgell Pelteret, Slavery in Early Mediaeval England:

     […] insist that in the event of the death of an esne his full value had to be paid.

• theow

• Nees, eens, seen, sene, snee

From Proto-Basque *ezene.

• Audio

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• IPA^(key): /es̺ne/, [e̞z̺.ne̞]

esne inan

1. milk

• "esne" in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia [Dictionary of the Basque Academy], euskaltzaindia.eus
• “esne” in Orotariko Euskal Hiztegia [General Basque Dictionary], euskaltzaindia.eus

esik +‎ -ne (personal suffix)

• IPA^(key): [ˈɛʃnɛ]
• Hyphenation: es‧ne

esne

1. third-person singular conditional present indefinite of esik

From es (“are”), 2nd person singular of sum (“to be”) +‎ -ne (“focusing enclitic particle of polar questions”).

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈes.ne/, [ˈɛs̠nɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈes.ne/, [ˈɛzne]

esne

1. second-person singular present active indicative of sumne (“are you [or are you not]?”)

Used to ask yes-no, polar questions related to existence or being, e.g. Esne senātor? (Are you a senator?)

From Proto-West Germanic *asnī, from Proto-Germanic *asunz.

• IPA^(key): /ˈes.ne/, [ˈez.ne]

esne m

1. a man of the servile class; a servant.

• Middle English: esne
• → English: esne