læran

From Proto-West Germanic *laiʀijan, from Proto-Germanic *laizijaną, from *laizō (“teaching”).

Cognate with Old Frisian lēra, Old Saxon lērian, Dutch lēren, Old High German lēren.

• IPA^(key): /ˈlæː.rɑn/

lǣran

1. [with accusative] to teach, instruct, train
   • late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of Saint Augustine's Soliloquies

     Iċ dō swā ðū mē lǣrst...

     I will do even as thou teachest me,...

2. [with accusative] to advise, exhort, urge
   • late 10th century, Ælfric, "Saint George, Martyr"

     Nāst þū lā Geori þæt ūre godas swincað mid þē and ġīt hī synd ġeþyldiġe þæt hī þe miltsion. Nū lǣre iċ ðē swā swā lēofne sunu þæt ðū þǣra cristenra lāre forlǣte mid ealle and tō mīnum rǣde hraðe ġebūge swā þæt ðū offriġe þām ārwurðan Appoline and þū myċelne wurðmynt miht swā beġitan.

     Knowest thou not, O George, that our gods are striving with thee, and even yet they are patient, that they may pity thee; now I exhort thee, as a beloved son, that thou altogether quit the Christians' doctrine, and quickly incline to my counsel, so that thou sacrifice to the venerable Apollo, and thou mayest so obtain great honour.'

3. [with accusative] to admonish, warn, dissuade
4. [with accusative] to enjoin; to command, prescribe
5. [with accusative] (malicious) to instigate, incite, provoke

• This verb usually takes both the topic of teaching/advisement and the person(s) taught/advised in the accusative. When both objects appear together, however, it is common to see either of these take the dative instead, or a preposition (be, ymb, on, or tō; the last especially in the sense "to urge/exhort"). The topic of teaching/advisement may also be introduced by a clause beginning with þæt or hū.

• lār
• lārēow
• ēaþlǣre
• earfoþlǣre

• Middle English: leren, lere
  • English: leer

• leornian (“to learn”)
• list (“art, skill”)
• lāst (“trace, footstep”)

• Joseph Bosworth; T. Northcote Toller (1898), “lǽran”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, second edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Angus Cameron, Ashley Crandell Amos, Antonette diPaolo Healey, editors (2018), “lǣran”, in Dictionary of Old English: A to Le ⁠, Toronto: University of Toronto, →OCLC.