begripe

From Middle English begripen, bigripen, from Old English begrīpan (“to grip, seize, lay hold of; chide”), from Proto-Germanic *bigrīpaną, equivalent to be- (“around, about”) +‎ gripe. Cognate with Dutch begrijpen (“to grasp, comprehend”), German begreifen (“to grasp, comprehend, realise, understand”), Swedish begripa (“to grasp, understand”).

begripe (third-person singular simple present begripes, present participle begriping, simple past and past participle begriped)

1. (transitive) To lay hold of; apprehend; grip; grasp.
   • 1865, Dante Alighieri, The Comedy of Dante Allighieri. [sic]: Part I--The Hell:

     He, with his middle feet, begriped his paunch, And took the arms with the anterior; And then he bit both one and other cheek.

   • 1899, Sir Thomas Malory, Sir Edward Strachey, William Caxton, Le morte Darthur:

     And as for this sword there shall never man begripe it at the handle but one, but he shall pass all other. In the name of God, said Percivale, I shall essay to handle it. So he set his hand to the sword, but he might not begripe it.

• begrip

begripe

1. inflection of begripen:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. first/third-person singular present subjunctive

From Middle Low German begripen, compare with Danish begribe

begripe (imperative begrip, present tense begriper, passive begripes, simple past begrep or begreip, past participle begrepet, present participle begripende)

1. to grasp, understand, comprehend

• begripelse

• “begripe” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “begripe” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

From Middle Low German begripen

begripe (present tense begrip, past tense begreip, past participle begripe, passive infinitive begripast, present participle begripande, imperative begrip)

1. to grasp, understand, comprehend

• begripa

• “begripe” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

From Old Frisian bigrīpa, from Proto-Germanic *bigrīpaną, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰreyb-. Equivalent to be- +‎ gripe.

• IPA^(key): /bəˈɡripə/

begripe

1. to understand, to comprehend

• “begripe”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011