The Most Precedential Presidential Of All! » « Odin’s Day Mood.

Word Wednesday.

Keen

Adjective.

1 a: having a fine edge or point: sharp. b: affecting one as if by cutting <keen sarcasm>. c: pungent to the sense. <a keen scent>.

2 a: (1) showing a quick and ardent responsiveness <a keen swimmer>. (2) eager; b of emotion or feeling: intense.

3 a: intellectually alert: having or characteristic of a quick penetrating mind; also: shrewdly astute. b: sharply contested <a keen debate>. c: extremely  sensitive in perception.

4: Wonderful, excellent.

– Keenly, adverb.

– Keenness, noun.

– Keen on: very enthusiastic or excited about.

[Origin: Middle English kene brave, sharp, from Old English cēne brave; akin to Old High German kuoni brave.]

(13th century)*

“Daniel is a very keen fellow, and it is why I sent him to Duncarlin – he has gone before, and hates the errand, for the castle and its inhabitants oppress him, and he feels unclean when he has been there.” – The Wicked, Douglas Nicholas.

Am I the only one who remembers Neato keen?

*I am aware of the meanings ascribed in the 1800s. My book choice is set in the early Medieval period, and that’s the definition I am concerned with.

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Comments

  1. usagichan says

    Also can be

    verb
    verb: keen; 3rd person present: keens; past tense: keened; past participle: keened; gerund or present participle: keening

    1. wail in grief for a dead person.
    “the body of Johnny was taken by his own people who keened over him”

    make an eerie wailing sound.
    noun: keening
    “the keening of the cold night wind”

    Definition from Google

  2. says

    Is it really too much to expect people to read the fucking post? I wrote:

    *I am aware of the meanings ascribed in the 1800s. My book choice is set in the early Medieval period, and that’s the definition I am concerned with.

    For fuck’s sake.

  3. usagichan says

    Just noticed your reply Caine… apologies, should read more carefully before posting. :(

  4. Ice Swimmer says

    I got curious if any cognates of keen/kuoni still exist in Swedish or German. Couldn’t find anything in Swedish, but it seems the family name Kühn could be the modern cognate, my Finnish-German dictionary (revised edition from 1979) and German Wikipedia both state that the word/name means brave. Not sure if kühn is used as an adjective in contemporary German.

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