Old French Words/P-S

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French word	English word	Example sentence	Notes
pain	warch	I feel warch in my chest.	From ME warche. Rhymes with porch. Extended here to be a verb with the same meaning as pain. For pains in phrases such as go to pains, one can use swink (see toil).
palace	highhall	The king and his family live in the highhall.	From OE hēahheall.
palm (as in hand's surface)	folm	Let me read your folm.	From OE folm.
paradise	nerxenwong	This place is my nerxenwong.	From OE neorxnawang. Alternatively modernized as narxenwong (showing the sound change of er to ar, which sometimes happened).
paramour	coppener	She met with her coppener in the garden at night.	From ME copenere.
parboil	halfseethe	I halfseethed the rice.	From half- + seethe (see boil).
pardon (verb)	foryeave	The prisoner was foryeaven for his crimes.	Past tense: foryave, past participle: foryeaven. Or: forgive (as give is a Norse borrowing).
pardon (noun)	foryeaveness	The governor granted him a foryeaveness.	Or: forgiveness (as give is a Norse borrowing). Extended here to be a countable noun. For the phrase (I beg your) pardon, one can say something like I ask for your foryeaveness.
parent	alder	Good alders pay attention to their children.	From ME alder (with overlap in meaning with elder, which formerly could mean parent). For the verb meaning act as a parent to, one can use rear (or raise, a Norse borrowing), e.g., he was parented very well > he was reared very well.
parson	churchleed	The churchleed spoke with the vicar.	From church + leed (see person), as parson etymologically refers to a particular kind of person.
parsonage	churchleedhouse	The priest stayed at the churchleedhouse.	From churchleed + house, as the word refers to a parson's house. For the older meaning of benefice of a parson, one can use churchleedhood.
part (as in portion)	deal	The cake was cut into seven deals.	The meaning of part is still found in phrases like a great deal of and deal out. The adverb part and partly are translated here as deally. Partake is now dealnim, based on OE dǣlnimende (taking part). Past tense: dealnam, past participle: dealnum. Sometimes traced back to OE part (a borrowing from Latin), but the word was seldom used in OE and only as a technical word, so modern part is clearly from the French word. For (a) part of, a deal of works.
part (as in component)	deal	Hand me those mechanical deals, will you?	Meaning extended here.
part (as in section)	deal	The book has three deals.	Meaning extended here.
part (as in role)	deal	His deal in the story is now over.	Meaning extended here.
part (as in region)	side	What brings you to this side, stranger?	Now a dialectal use of side.
part (as in side)	side	This is an error on my side.
part (as in parting in the hair)	shed	He had a shed in his hair.	From an obsolete use of shed. Also used for the verb, e.g., he sheds his hair.
part (as in divide)	deal	The country is dealt into several regions.	From an old use of deal.
part (as in separate)	sunder	A fool and his money are soon sundered.	Also used intransitively, e.g., now we must part > now we must sunder.
partial (as in incomplete)	dealwise	He paid off his debt through dealwise payments.	Newly formed derivative based on German teilweise. Also used for partially.
partial (as in biased)	uneven-handed	It is important that justice avoid being seen as uneven-handed.	Based on even-handed. Impartial is thus even-handed.
partial (as in having a liking for)	keen	I am quite keen on eggs and bacon.	Used with the preposition on.
partiality (as in bias)	uneven-handedness	The judge must not show any uneven-handedness.	Impartiality is even-handedness.
partiality (as in liking)	keenness	We bonded over our keenness on cycling.
participle	dealnimming	Fallen is the past dealnimming of fall.	Based on OE dǣlnimend.
pastor	shepherd	I went to church and spoke with the shepherd.	For clarity, one can also say church-shepherd (a newly formed compound). Though pastoral can be found in OE as a borrowing, it was only used as a noun meaning a book on the care of souls. The current use of pastoral is from a later reborrowing from Latin, so pastoral can be translated as shepherdly (adjective) and shepherd-tale (a newly formed compound for the noun).
pasture	leasow	He took the animals out to the leasow.	Now a dialectal word. Pronounced as if spelled lezzow (compare with the phonetic development of meadow). Pasturage is a later French borrowing and is now leasowland (for pastureland) and leasowing (for pasturing).
patience	thild	He has no thild with slackers.	From ME ithild. Rhymes with wild.
patient (adjective)	thildy	One needs to be thildy with the children.	From ME ithildi.
patient (as in someone receiving medical treatment)	sickling	The doctor is busy with a sickling right now.	Calque of Icelandic sjúklingur. Most other Germanic languages have borrowed the word from French or Latin.
patient (as in recipient of an action)	underfanger	In "I struck the board", board is the underfanger of the action.	Based on ME underfongen (meaning receive).
pawn (chess)	bower	As part of his first move, he moved his bower.	From OE gebūr meaning farmer. Rhymes with tower. Extended here to mean pawn based on how most other Germanic languages use a word for farmer to refer to the pawn.
pawn (as in deposit an item as a pledge)	wedset	I was forced to wedset my watch.	Now an obsolete word meaning put (land, clothes, etc.) in pledge. Historically found as wadset in Scots law to refer to mortgages.
pawn (as in pawned item)	wed	He gave him his coat as a wed.	From an old use of the word. Pawnbroker is a later formation and is now wedlender (based on German Pfandleiher).
pawn (as in state of being pawned)	wed	My necklace is in wed.	From an old use of the word.
pay	yield	I'll yield you fifty dollars if you do me a favor.	From the word's original meaning. This can also be used for the noun. Also used for figurative meanings of give, bestow, punish. Pay (a nautical word meaning seal with pitch) is a different and later French borrowing and is translated here as smear, e.g., I will pay the deck with pitch > I will smear the deck with pitch.
payment	yielding	I have had to make monthly yieldings.
peace	frith	May frith be with you!	From ME frith.
peaceable (as in inclined toward peace)	frithloving	He is a very frithloving person.
peaceable (as in peaceful)	frithful	They lived in a frithful time.
pearl	mergroat	The chest was full of diamonds and mergroats.	From OE meregrot (apparently a reanalyzed form of Latin margarita). The other Germanic languages (including Icelandic) have taken their word for pearl from the Latin or French word, so maybe pearl would have still become the general word even without the Norman Conquest. Pearl meaning picot appears to be a variant of purl, which is of uncertain origin.
peasant	churl	The churls toiled away in the fields.	From an old use of the word. Peasantry is a later formation and is now churlhood. The adjectival form is churlish.
peer (as in equal)	evenling	You should spend more time with your evenlings.	From ME evenling.
peer (as in nobleman)	athelman	There are many different kinds of British athelmen.	From ME athelman. See noble. The feminine, peeress, is a later formation and is now athelwoman. Peerage is a later formation and is now athelmanhood.
people	folk	Thou truly art a man of the folk.	Used for people meaning human beings collectively, in which case the word may also be folks in colloquial speech, e.g., young people love it > young folk(s) love it. Also used for people meaning body of persons, in which case the plural is folks, e.g., an African people > an African folk. For people as the plural of person (individual), see person.
perish	forfare	Unfortunately, many forfared from the famine.	From ME forfaren.
perjure	forswear	The witness forswore himself in his testimony.
perjury	forswearing	You shall be punished later for forswearing.
person (as in individual)	leed	Who was the last leed to see her?	From ME lede. The plural is leeds, e.g., three people > three leeds. Extended here to other uses of person such as character (like in a story) and grammatical person (based on the use of OE hād as a general word for person in several meanings). Person is a common Germanic borrowing, but is generally used alongside the native word for human in other Germanic languages (see human). Old English had mann as a common word for person, but that word later became man with the meaning of adult male human (such a shift also occurs in other Germanic languages), so English probably would have used another native word for person and would have perhaps borrowed person as a more formal word (especially for specific uses such as grammatical person). Note that if one is willing to borrow person, the plural should always be persons. Personable appears to be a later formation and is now willsome (from ME wilsom).
person (as in body)	body	I assure you that I am hiding nothing on my body.	For in person, one can say in the flesh, e.g., I wish to meet you in the flesh.
personage	leedliness	Many leedlinesses attended the party.	From leedly (see personal) + -ness, calque of German Persönlichkeit. If one is willing to borrow person, personliness also works.
personal (as in pertaining to a person)	leedly	He did so only for leedly gain.	Newly formed derivative. If one is willing to borrow person, personly also works.
personal (as in on a person's body)	bodily	Please remove all your bodily effects.
personality	leedliness	This room needs more leedliness.	From leedly (see personal) + -ness, calque of German Persönlichkeit. If one is willing to borrow person, personliness also works.
phantom	dwimmer	He was haunted by dwimmers at night.	From OE gedwimor.
philosopher	outhwit	Socrates and Plato are among the most influential Western outhwits.	From OE ūþwita. Most other Germanic languages have borrowed the word from Latin. Found in Old English in the form philosoph. Obsolete form of philosopher: philosoph.
philosophy	outhwittting	He found outhwitting to be a very difficult subject.	Based on OE ūþwitegung. Most other Germanic languages have borrowed the word from Latin. Philosophical is a later formation and is now outwitly (from OE ūþwitlīc).
piece	stitch	The cake has been cut into several stitches.	From ME stiche. Unrelated to stitch meaning sewn piece of thread. Extended here to figurative uses of piece such as musical piece (compare with German Stück). Extended here to be a verb, e.g., I pieced together the fragments > I stitched together the fragments. Piecemeal is a later formation and is now stitchmeal (from OE styċċemǣlum).
piss	lant	Ugh, I've got some lant on my shoes.	Now a dialectal word with a few specialized uses. Extended here to be a verb meaning urinate. Interestingly, all the other Germanic languages have borrowed piss from French.
place (as in location)	stead	There are many steads to visit in this city.	Still found in words like homestead and the phrase in one's stead. One can also use stow (from ME stowe). Sometimes traced back to OE plæce/plæts (a borrowing from Latin), but it was seldom used in OE, meant something like open space, public square, and would have become something like plats, so modern place is clearly from the French word.
place (as in set)	set	Could you set the box on the table?	One can also use dialectal stell (from OE stellan). In some contexts, put (which probably existed in Old English and is implied by OE putung) works as well.
planet	wanderstar	Earth is the third wanderstar from the sun.	Now a rare compound calqued from German Wandelstern. Compare also with Icelandic reikistjarna (wander-star). All these are ultimately traced to Greek planētēs, which means wanderer and is also used to refer to planets because planets were thought to be in motion, unlike the fixed stars. Planet is a common Germanic borrowing (though Icelandic seems to prefer using reikistjarna). One can also use tungle (from ME tungol meaning star). Planetary is a later borrowing from Latin and is now wanderstarly.
plant (vegetation)	wort	He liked to grow worts in his garden.	From an old use of the word (see herb). Rhymes with hurt. Though plant was present in OE as plante (a Latin borrowing), it had the meaning of young plant. However, it was also present as the verb plantian meaning plant. The Latin word was not commonly used, but it later became the general word probably because the word was strengthened by or reborrowed from the French or Latin word. Plant is also a common Germanic borrowing and is the general word used in those languages, though Icelandic apparently still uses the native words jurt (noun) and gróðursetja (verb) alongside planta. In any case, one can argue that even without the Norman Conquest, plant would have become the general word anyway.
plant (verb)	wortwale	I wortwaled some seeds in the soil.	From OE wyrtwalian. This can be extended to other noun uses of plant such as factory plant since they essentially refer to something planted. See above for an explanation on the history of English plant.
pleasant	queem	The woman next door is quite queem.	Now an obsolete word.
please (polite adverb)	kindly	Kindly pass me the salt.
please (verb)	queem	The children are easy to queem with treats.	Now an obsolete word.
pleasure (noun)	queemness	I traveled to Europe for queemness.	From ME quemnesse.
pleasure (as in give pleasure to)	yeave queemness	I have many ways to yeave my lover queemness.	Yeave is from ME yeven. Past tense of yeave: yave, past participle: yeaven. Or: give queemness (since give is Norse).
pleasure (as in find pleasure in)	find queemness	I found queemness in sailing.
pledge	plight	I plight allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.	Now an archaic word. Unrelated to plight meaning unfortunate situation.
plight	hardship	The crisis only worsened our economic hardship.	For older uses of plight with its neutral meaning of state, condition and in negative phrases such as sorry plight and sad plight, one can use hoad from ME hode.
plumage	featherhame	The peacock has a beautiful featherhame.	Now an obsolete word.
poem	leeth	Let me express my gratitude with a leeth.	From ME leth. Poem is also considered a Latin loanword.
poet	leether	Leethers will write about your heroic deeds.
poetic	leethish	The language used in this work is leethish.	Poetical is a variant formed with -al. Or: leethly.
poetry	leethcraft	He likes to read Greek leethcraft.	From OE lēoþcræft.
poison	atter	The lord was murdered with a deadly atter.	From ME atter. Also used as a verb with the same meaning as poison. Poisonous is a later formation and is now attery.
poor	arm	The arm men live in that part of the city.	From ME arm.
pork	swineflesh	He began to eat more swineflesh.	Or: swinemeat. Extended here to its figurative use in politics. Can be shortened to: swine.
possibility	mightlihood	There is the mightlihood that he is mistaken.	See possible. Newly formed derivative based on likelihood.
possible	mightly	It is mightly to find the answer.	From OE mihtlic.
potion	drench	The apothecary gave me this drench.
poverty	armth	The disgraced man now lived in armth.	From ME armthe (see poor).
power (noun)	might	No man can resist my might.	Extended here to other meanings of power, e.g., three to the fifth power > three to the fifth might. Empower is a later formation and is now mighten (from might + -en). Powerful and powerless are now mighty and mightless.
power (as in supply with power)	mighten	This room is mightened by electricity.	Newly formed derivative. One can also use feed in its figurative meaning of provide. For the noun power-up, one can use mightener.
power (as in move with great force)	speed	I sped through the crowd without thinking.	Also used for the meaning of hit with great force, e.g., he sped the ball into the net.
praise	loave	The teacher loaved the student for his diligence.	Now an obsolete word.
pray (as in say a prayer)	bense	I bensed to God that I might recover soon.	From OE bēnsian. Rhyme with cleanse.
pray (as in implore)	beseech	I beseech you to tell me now.	Past tense and past participle are besought. The archaic use of pray for please (adverb) can be replaced with something like I beseech you, e.g., I beseech you, continue.
prayer	bensing	I knelt down in bensing.	Rhymes with cleansing.
preposition	foresetting	In and on are both foresettings.	Based on OE fōresetnes, with substitution of the suffix.
preside	foresit	I will foresit at today's meeting.	From OE fōresittan.
president	foresitter	Who is the current foresitter of the republic?	Based on Icelandic forseti. Presidential is a later formation and is now foresitterly. For presidency, see presidence.
prince	atheling	The atheling must be taught what good kingship is.	Now a historical word. Pronounced with /ð/; the pronunciation with /θ/ is a spelling pronunciation. For the feminine, see princess.
princess	athelingen	The athelingen is much adored by the people.	See -ess.
principality	athelingdom	Liechtenstein is an athelingdom.
prison	quartern	The criminal managed to escape from quartern.	From OE cweartern. Prison is a late OE borrowing from French. For its use as a verb, see imprison.
prisoner	quarterner	The quarterners complained about their treatment.
proffer	bid	The man bid me his card.	See offer.
progeny	offspring	My legacy shall live on through my offspring.
prolong	lengthen	He intends to lengthen his leadership.
promise (as in vow)	behote	I do not make behotes that I cannot keep.	From ME bihot.
promise (as in indicate)	behote	This behotes to be an interesting event.	Meaning extended here (compare with German versprechen). Promising is thus behoting.
promise (as in indication of excellence)	behote	That young man shows a lot of behote.	Meaning extended here.
pronoun	fornameword	I and thou are both fornamewords.	Calque of Dutch voornaamwoord and based on German Fürwort and OE forenama.
pronounce	outspeak	How do you outspeak this word?	Calque of German aussprechen. Also used to mean declare. In the sense of articulate (a word), say works as well.
pronunciation	outspeech	His outspeech of the word betrays his British origins.
prophecy	witying	According to the witying, a hero will arrive to save us.	From ME witiinge.
prophesy	wity	The soothsayer witied that the king should meet his death tomorrow.	From ME witien.
prophet	wity	The magician claimed to be a wity.	From ME witie.
prophetess	witien	He heard a grim message from the witien.	See -ess.
prose	spell	He wrote this tale in spell as opposed to verse.	From an old use of spell (as in magical incantation). Also used here as a verb meaning talk, converse. Prosaic is a later French borrowing and is now spellish.
proud	overmoody	He was overmoody about his strength.	From ME overmọ̄dī. Proud is a late OE borrowing of the French word. Pride is an analogical formation based on umlaut and is now overmood.
pullet	hennock	He bought six hennocks.	From hen + -ock (diminutive suffix found in hillock). Or: henling (as diminutive -ling is from Norse).
punish	awreak	I must awreak you for your insolence.	From ME awreken.
punishment	awreaking	I took away his toys as awreaking for his bad behavior.
pure	shire	What you see here is shire gold.	Now an obsolete word. One can also use sheer, which probably shows Norse influence. Clean may work as well. Impure appears to be a Latin borrowing and is now unshire.
purify	shire	This machine is used to shire water.	From ME shiren. Cleanse works as well.
purity	shireness	I am worried about the shireness of our water.	From ME shirnes. Cleanness may work as well. Impurity appears to be a Latin borrowing and is now unshireness.
quaint (as in charmingly old-fashioned)	oldmoody	Just the other day, I stumbled upon this oldmoody store.	Newly formed compound.
quaint (as in charmingly unusual)	wondersome	What a wondersome idea you have!	Now a rare word meaning wondrous.
quest	seeching	He has worked tirelessly in the seeching of the solution.	Or: seeking (which shows Norse influence). The verb is also seech (see search). Past tense and past participle of seech is still sought.
question (as in interrogative)	fraining	Could I ask you a fraining?	From the dialectal verb frain meaning inquire.
question (as in interrogate)	frain	The men were frained about their role in the event.	Ask also works in this case.
question (as in doubt)	tween	Thy loyalty is beyond tween.	See doubt.
quiver (as in portable case)	cocker	The archer took an arrow out of the cocker.	Now an obsolete word.
real	sooth	There are many things in sooth life that sound as if they had come from fiction.	Now an archaic word. The adverbial form really is now soothly. For the phrase for real, one can use the archaic interjection forsooth. In certain cases, true and truth may also be used for real and reality, respectively.
reality	sooth	You must wake up and see sooth for yourself.
realm	rich	Many men throughout the rich heeded the warning.	From ME riche, ultimately the same word as the adjective rich.
reason (as in cause, justification)	ground	What was her ground for going to that place?
reason (as in rational thinking)	shoad	The Enlightenment is called the Age of Shoad.	From ME ʒescod. Related to the verb shed. Extended here to be a verb with the same meaning as reason.
recount (as in tell)	tell	I told my adventures in South America.
regal	kingly	I had to fulfill my kingly duties.
regret	rue	I rue not having told her everything.	Regretful is now rueful.
reign (noun)	rixle	What happened during Queen Elizabeth's rixling?	From ME rixlinge.
reign (verb)	rixle	The monarch rixles, but does not rule.	From ME rixlen.
rejoice	selthen	I selthened to see her again.	From selth (see joy) + -en.
remember (as in recall)	mun	Do you mun the password to your computer?	From ME imunen.
remember (as in send greetings)	send one's greetings	Please send my greetings to your mother.
remembrance	munning	The munning of that day suddenly came back to me.
rent	gavel	He was told that he had to pay his rent tomorow.	From ME gavel. Now a historical word.
revenge	wrake	The spiteful warlock plotted his wrake.	Now an obsolete word. Also used as a verb with the same meaning as revenge (from ME wraken).
reward	meed	You deserve a meed for your heroism.	Now an archaic word. Also used as a verb.
riches	richdom	The woman went from rags to richdom.	From ME richedom.
river	ea	There were many boats out on the ea.	Now a dialectal word. Stream is often used interchangeably with river, though the latter often denotes a larger stream of water.
rob	reave	A group of criminals reft the bank.	Now an archaic word. Past tense and past participle are reft.
robber	reaver	The reaver quickly fled the scene with the stolen goods.
robbery	reaf	The seven men have been arrested for reaf.	Now an obsolete word generally spelled as reif in Scottish use. Respelled here to match with reave.
Roman (noun)	Rooman	The Roomans had built an impressive civilization.	From OE Rōmāne (the Romans). Made into a singular here. Or: Roomer (compare with German Römer).
Roman (adjective)	Roomanish	Augustus was the first Roomanish emperor.	From ME Romanish. Or: Roomish (compare with OE Rēmisc, which shows umlaut, and German römisch).
Rome	Room	He went to Room for vacation last year.	From an archaic pronunciation directly traced to OE Rōm. The modern form Rome appears to show influence from the French or Latin form.
rook (chess)	tor	He decided to move his tor.	From OE torr meaning tower. Extended here to refer to the chess piece, based on how most other Germanic languages use their word for tower to refer to the rook, though their word for tower (like OE torr) ultimately comes from Latin turris. Interestingly enough, Icelandic instead uses hrókur, which is ultimately from French.
rose (flower)	roose	I gave my darling a few rooses.	From OE rōse. Rhymes with choose. The current vowel in rose is probably from the French form.
round (adjective)	sinwalt	Both the coin and the ball are sinwalt.	From OE sinewealt. Extended here to be a verb meaning make round and a noun meaning round piece. For the adverb and the preposition around, the word is emb from ME embe (originally an unstressed variant of OE ymbe and preserved in the phrase ember days). The variant umb (from ME umbe) is from Norse.
round (as in route, circuit)	embgang	The physician went to the hospital and began his embgang.	From OE ymbgang. Extended here to other meanings of round involving figurative motion such as a round of drinks, a tournament round, and round of chores. Also used as a verb meaning go around.
round (as in ammunition)	shell	This gun can shoot thirty shells a second.
royal	kingly	Two members of the kingly family have gone to Germany.	For the informal use of royal as a noun, kingly can work as well, e.g., one of the kinglies. Obsolete form of royal: real (unrelated to real meaning existing, genuine).
royalty (as in kingly status)	kingliness	This room is decorated to show off his kingliness.	Extended here to also be used for one of royalty, e.g., this house belongs to royalty > this house belongs to kingliness.
royalty (as in the legal concept)	kingright	I shall be compensated through kingrights.	Royalty in this context originally referred to a royal right.
rule (as in regulation)	rail	These are the rails of the game.	From ME reʒhel (< OE regol, ultimately a Latin borrowing). The OE form had /eɣ/, which would have later changed to Middle English /ɛi/ and eventually modern /eɪ/. Ruler meaning measuring stick is a later formation and is now railstick (from ME regolsticca). Also used as a verb meaning mark with lines with a ruler (from OE regolian).
rule (as in custom)	rail	This is the exception that proves the rail.
rule (as in authority)	wield	The territory was no longer under British wield.	From ME weld. One can also use wold from ME wolde.
rule (as in govern)	wield	The queen wields this land.	From an old use of wield. One can also use wold from ME wolden (< OE wealdan).
rule (as in decide judicially)	deem	The judge deemed that the law was unconstitutional.	For the noun ruling, one can also use doom besides deeming (see judgment).
sacrifice (verb)	offer	The Romans offered certain animals to the gods.	Note that offer is attested in OE only in this meaning (see offer).
sacrifice (noun)	offering	Making an offering is a common way to show respect to the gods.	Note that the noun offer is from French (see offer).
sage (as in wise man)	wiseman	I visited a wiseman for advice.	From the phrase wise man. The feminine is wisewoman.
sage (as in wise)	wise	He gave me some wise advice.
sage (as in the herb)	salvy	Salvy is used in many dishes.	From ME salvie (< OE salfige), ultimately a Germanic borrowing from Latin.
saint	hallow	This place was named after a hallow.	Now an archaic word. The verb hallow is extended here to also mean formally recognize as a saint. Somtimes traced back to OE sanct, but the pronunciation of saint can only be traced back to the Old French word.
salmon	lax	I caught some lax yesterday.	Now an obsolete word.
sanctification	hallowing	The hallowing of the wine was complete.	See sanctify.
sanctify	hallow	May God hallow your soul!	Now an archaic word.
scabbard	sheath	He took his sword out of his sheath.
science	witship	Thanks to witship, our understanding of the world has improved.	Calque of German Wissenschaft. The adjectival form, scientific, is a later borrowing from French or Latin and is now witshiply. Scientist is a later formation and is now witshipper.
search (as in look for)	seech	The police are now seeching the suspect.	Or: seek (which shows Norse influence). The noun is seeching (or seeking), e.g., they began a seeching of the suspect. Another word for this is look for, e.g., look for the suspect.
search (as in examine)	seech through	I'm sorry, but I must seech through your luggage.	Based on the archaic word throughseek (which one can also use). Or: seek through. Another word for this is look through, e.g., I must look through your luggage.
season (time)	yeartide	There are four yeartides in a year.	Calque of German Jahreszeit. Seasonal is a later formation and is now yeartidely.
season (as in period of time)	tide	It's baseball tide this time of year.	From an old use of tide. Extended here for the use in entertainment, e.g., the show ran for ten tides. The adjectival form is tidely.
season (as in add flavoring)	wort	I worted the soup with some pepper.	From OE gewyrtian. Rhymes with hurt. Seasoning is thus worting.
season (as in ripen)	ripen	He was a soldier ripened by experience.	We can also extend this to the meaning of prepare (wood).
second (ordinal)	tother	The tother book is better than the third.	From ME tother, a dialectal variant of other and still used in some dialects as a word for other. Meaning narrowed here to second, which other formerly could mean. Other can be used, but as it is now used more broadly, this may be confused with its main meanings. Second meaning back, support is a later French borrowing and is translated here as back, e.g., I second the motion > I back the motion. Second meaning transfer for temporary duty is also a later French borrowing and is translated here as lend, e.g., the officer was seconded to another post > the officer was lent to another post.
secret	dern	He kept the cave's existence dern.	Now a dialectal word. Its use as a noun meaning secret is last found in Middle English. Secrecy is a later formation and is now dernship (from Middle English).
see (as in bishop's seat of authority)	bishopsield	The city became a bishopsield in the tenth century.	Calque of German Bischofssitz. Sield comes from ME selde (meaning chair, seat). Based on the fact that see ultimately comes from Latin sēdēs (seat, chair) and gradually came to refer to a bishop's seat of authority. Or: bishopseat (as seat is from Norse). Holy See is now Holy Sield, based on formations such as German Heiliger Stuhl that are calques of Latin Sancta Sedes.
seneschal	steward	He was now the royal steward.
serf	esen	Russia no longer has esens.	From OE esne. Pronounced as /ɛzən/. The word in OE meant slave (which serf originally meant). Meaning narrowed here to the modern meaning of serf.
serpent	snake	The lair is full of snakes.
serpentine (adjective)	snakish	We wended our way through the snakish path.
servant	thainingman	The thane had many thainingmen.	From ME thening men (serving men). The feminine is thainingwoman or thainingmaid (based on maidservant). Used here to separate it from thane, which originally meant servant, but gradually came to be used to refer to nobility.
serve (as in be in the service of)	thain	I live to thain my lord.	From ME theinen. Extended here to mean treat, as in he has served me well. Disserve is a later formation and is now misthain. Server is now thainer.
serve (as in do service)	thain	He thained in the military seven years ago.	Extended here to be intransitive.
serve (as in function)	thain	This will thain as a suitable replacement.	Meaning extended here.
serve (as in present)	thain	Dinner is thained.
serve (as in be subject to a punishment)	undergo	You shall undergo twelve years in prison.
serve (as in (of a male animal) copulate)	match mid	The stallion matched mid the mare.	From the phrase match with, which uses match in its old meaning of mate. Mid is an obsolete preposition meaning with. Or: match with, which uses Norse-influenced with.
serve (as in deliver)	send	I was sent a parking ticket for overstaying.
serve (sports)	send	Send the ball already!	The noun is sending.
service (as in act of serving)	thaining	We appreciate your thaining to the country.	The verb meaning perform a service for is thain (see serve). Service is a late Old English borrowing from French and is attested once with the meaning of religious service. Disservice is a later formation and is now misthaining.
service (as in utility)	thaining	There is no bus thaining here.	See serve.
service (as in operation)	thaining	The machine is currently not in thaining.	Meaning extended here.
service (as in ceremony)	thaining	I helped plan the funeral thaining.	Meaning extended here.
service (as in set of utensils)	dishware	The waitress brought out the tea dishware.
service (as in inspection)	upkeep	I took my car to the shop for upkeep.	Also used as a verb meaning perform repair work.
service (as in (of a male animal) copulate)	match mid	The bull matched mid those cows.	From the phrase match with, which uses match in its old meaning of mate. Mid is an obsolete preposition meaning with. Or: match with, which uses Norse-influenced with.
service (as in delivery)	sending	There are fees for a sending of a writ.
service (sports)	sending	It's your sending now.
sir (title)	bern	Bern Lancelot was King Arthur's greatest knight.	From ME bern, a poetic word that mainly meant man, but had secondary meanings such as warrior and nobleman. Used as the feminine of ME birde (see dame). Used here as a knightly title.
sir (form of address)	lord	How can I help you, lord?	My lord may be used in more formal contexts such as addressing certain nobles.
sire (form of address)	my lord	My lord, what shall I do?
sire (as in an animal's father)	fatherdeer	This horse's fatherdeer is a champion.	Calque of German Vatertier, from father + deer (in its old meaning of animal). Older uses referring to any father can be translated as father.
sire (as in beget)	father	The horse fathered two winners.
slave	thew	In ancient Rome, thews were the property of their owners.	From ME theu. Extended here to be a verb with the same meaning as slave. Or: thrall (a Norse borrowing). Slavery is a later formation and is now thewdom (or thralldom). Enslave is also a later formation and is now bethew (or bethrall, based on enthrall). Note that other Germanic languages but Icelandic have borrowed the word slave as well.
sorcerer	warlock	Many dared not to test the warlock's wrath.	Often with a negative connotation. Obsolete form of sorcerer: sorcer. For the feminine, see sorceress. Sorcerous is a later formation and is now warlockly.
sorceress	warlocken	The warlocken lived in a house far from the village.	See -ess. One can also use a separate word such as haitess from OE hægtesse, which may be the source of hag and is akin to German Hexe.
sorcery	warlockcraft	His warlockcraft amazed all the spectators.	Based on the obsolete word warlockry.
spell (as in spell a word)	bookstaff	Can you bookstaff this word aloud?	Based on German buchstabieren and Icelandic stava. Spelling is thus bookstaffing.
spell (as in form a word)	make	What word do these three letters make?
spell (as in denote)	betoken	This betokens trouble.
spirit (as in inner being)	ghost	The human ghost is quite strong.	From an old use of ghost. Found in Holy Ghost. Soul also works.
spirit (as in non-physical part of a being)	ghost	His ghost left his body after his death.	Soul also works.
spirit (as in supernatural being)	ghost	It is said that an evil ghost haunts that house.	Extended here to be a verb meaning carry off mysteriously like a ghost.
spirit (as in vigor, energy)	ghost	He sang the song with ghost.	From an old use of ghost. Other words that may work for this are life and soul.
spirit (as in attitude)	ghost	The artwork simply reflects the ghost of the times.	Meaning extended here. The German loanword Zeitgeist (spirit of the times) can thus be translated as tideghost (an etymological calque). Sometimes, it may be better to use mood, e.g., he is in high spirits > he is in a lively mood.
spirit (as in intent)	ghost	I prefer to go with the ghost of the law.	Meaning extended here.
spirit (as in person)	ghost	He is a kind old ghost.	From an old use of ghost. Soul also works.
spiritual	ghostly	The song gave him ghostly comfort.	From an old use of ghostly.
sprite	puck	A little puck flew by me.	From an old word referring to a mischievous fairy. Some older uses of sprite may be better replaced with ghost or soul. The use of sprite referring to an image is a modern English development based on how sprites float on top of an image like mythological sprites. This use of sprite has entered other languages. Because of its metaphorical origin, one can extend the meaning of puck for this.
spy (verb)	sight	I sight with my little eye something small.	Meaning extended here to the meaning of espionage.
spy (noun)	sighter	The police were looking for sighters.	Meaning extended here.
squire (as in attendant)	shieldknape	The knight was accompanied by his shieldknape.	Calque of Dutch schildknaap and German Schildknappe. Knape is an obsolete word meaning boy. Extended here to be a verb meaning attend as a squire.
squire (as in landowner of the gentry)	goodlord	The goodlord frequently visited the village.	From an obsolete word referring to local nobility.
squirrel	oakwern	I saw an oakwern eating an acorn.	From ME ocquerne.
story (as in tale)	tale	I have written many tales for children.	Story/storey meaning floor is from Anglo-Latin (ultimately from Latin historia) and can be simply replaced with floor.
strange (as in peculiar)	selcouth	We are dealing with a selcouth case of murder.	Now an obsolete word. The couth is the same couth as in uncouth. One can also use other words such as weird, uncanny, or odd (a Norse borrowing) with various connotations.
strange (as in unfamiliar)	fremd	His accent was fremd to my ears.	Now a dialectal word.
stranger	fremdling	One night, a fremdling knocked on our door.	Newly formed derivative.
strife	cheast	The party was suffering from internal cheast.	From ME chest. For the older sense of strong endeavor, one can use founding (see strive).
strive (as in endeavor)	found	I found for success every day.	From ME founden.
strive (as in contend)	kemp	We must kemp against corruption.	Now a dialectal word.
sulfur, sulphur	sweavel	Sweavel is used for making gunpowder.	From ME swefel. Brimstone can also be used, but is now mainly found in biblical language.
surmount (as in overcome)	overcome	These mountains are dangerous, but can be overcome.
surmount (as in be on top of)	top	In the distance was a temple topped by a statue.
surrender	yeave up	The enemies were forced to yeave up.	Yeave is from ME yeven. Past tense of yeave: yave, past participle: yeaven. Or: give up (since give is Norse). If the context is clear, yield also works. The noun is upyeaving (or upgiving).