sayen
English
    
    Etymology
    
From Middle English seien, equivalent to say + -en.
Verb
    
sayen
- (obsolete) plural simple present of say
- 1606, N[athaniel] B[axter], Sir Philip Sydneys Ouránia, That Is, Endimions Song and Tragedie, Containing All Philosophie, London: […] Ed. Allde, for Edward White, […], →OCLC, signature [D4], verso:
- But diuine Shepheards ſoothly ſayen,
In their high Layes with wordes plaine: […] 
 - 1647, Henry More, “[Philosophical Poems.] Antipsychopannychia or The Third Book of the Song of the Soul: Containing a Confutation of the Sleep of the Soul after Death. The Præexistency of the Soul, […].”, in Alexander B[alloch] Grosart, editor, The Complete Poems of Dr. Henry More (1614–1687) […] (Chertsey Worthies’ Library), [Edinburgh: […] Edinburgh University Press; Thomas and Archibald Constable, […]] for private circulation, published 1878, →OCLC, stanza 78, page 126, column 1:
- No more do souls of men. For stories sayen
Well known 'mongst countrey folk, our spirits fly, […] 
 - 1747, William Mason, Musaeus: a Monody to the Memory of Mr. Pope:
- That men sayen I make trewe melody,
 
 
 
Anagrams
    
Middle Dutch
    
    Etymology
    
From Old Dutch *sāien, from Proto-West Germanic *sāan.
Inflection
    
This verb needs an inflection-table template.
Descendants
    
- Dutch: zaaien
 - Limburgish: zèjje
 
Further reading
    
- “sayen (II)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
 - Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “saeyen (II)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page saeyen
 
Middle English
    
    
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