The reason I dither about brooking "mark" for "trait" is that I don't want to swap a word that a sharp meaning to one that has many meanings. The goal, in my eyes, is to find a word to swap but, samod (ly?), not make things worse. I'd rather either bring in a word from another Germanic tung ... like trekk or trekklet ... or even brook the raw OE word mercung (merkung?) than brook a word like "mark" that already is heavily brooked. Doublets (twofolden, twofoldel, twofoldle, or brook the Fr/Lat afterfast ... let ... twofoldlet?) have been known to happen so having two words from the same root is ok.

I went back to work on a yetheude from English to Saxon and saw that I had brooked "sprecung" for communications ... Since the c has changed to k, that would now be "sprekung" ... sprekung thane for communications officer? Still needs a gloss!

Interesting writ but it didn't moot thralls. What we must recall (edcall?) is that not all Saxons lived the same way with the same laws. My guess is that theow and thrall could have been swapped depending on where and when it was brooked. It seems to me that, from the meanings, that theow (servant ... bonded slave) would have been a bit higher than a thrall (serf, servant, slave) if they were ever brooked at the same time! I'm thinking that I can update theow a bit and use it in place of a gov't official.

I was taken back a bit that the writ spelled kotsetla with a k instead of the OE c ... but then, it is a Latinate otherwise I'd try to fit it the campdom's (military's) frame.

It is idiomatic but maybe I can shed some light on it ... or muddle it more.

I won’t be long. » I’ll be long. ... Here, long is an adverb so that is a different thing.

In your byspel, it is a noun meaning a long interval or period of time: see you before long; it will not be for long.

Soooo ... Now we get into a murky way to describe it but maybe it'll help.

For and fore (from before) also work as prefixes with strongly unlike meanings (which often leads to muddling). For, as a prefix, works to intensify and/or give a negative meaning. For byspel: fordone = undone = ruined.

If you think of it as it is used as prefix, and in this byspel, a negative one, then it becomes clearer that it is intensifying the negation of the whole sentence ... almost like a double negative ... I won't be there for long.

So maybe you can see that if you use it in a "positive" sentence then it muddles the meaning ... "I will be there for long" is almost like saying, "I'll be there ... not long" which is gainsaying the meaning of "I will be there for a long time".

Having said all that, it is idiomatic. There's truly no way to foretell when "for" will just be an intensifier or when it will be a negation ... In forever, forgive, and forlorn, it is an intensifier. In forgo (to do without), it is a negation.

I likely just made it worse but I gave it my best shot!

Peasant is one Latinate that isn't used very much in the US, in fact, it may have been one of the first politically incorrect terms that is still steered away from. While "sharecropper" may fit within the wordbook meaning of "peasant", we would never call a sharecropper a peasant unless we wanted to be insulting. Peasant has a much darker feel to it in the US ... and just isn't used. Does being unrich make one a "peasant"? I don't think so but I think that in pre-1066 England, it would make you a churl ... and it wasn't insulting as it is now. That's just my guess.

And don't forget that between a churl and a thrall was a theow! Often the brook of thrall and theow seem to overlap.

What can one say about the grammar words. OE had grammaticcræft as well as stæfcræft (grammar).

As for mark ... at times it fits ... but the "mark of the beast" is a bad thing! Being a "marked man" is not a good thing. Getting good marks in school doesn't bestow a trait on a person. We don't say "trait of the beast" nor a "traited man" ... I'll have to try it for a few days and see how I feel about it.

Side mark here ... you like the word "hap" ... It still lives hapless, happy, and perhaps! I guess that makes "perhaps" 1/2 Latinate! lol ... forhaps?

I think I'll go with "thane" in place of a military officer. It think it fits. I just don't thane would be applied broadly like "soldier" is today. A thane would be above the enlisted ranks. Maybe the NCOs (non-commissioned officers - sergeants) would be under-thanes? Or keep the Latinate forefast and call them sub-thanes. So a communications officer could be a "samodsprec thane". That would need a gloss. I don't think that would be forthwith(ly) understood.

I found byspel with one of the meanings being "example" in an online dictionary ... I'm good to go! http://englishdictionaryonline.co/search/byspel

In this instance, 'instance' is one of those false friends ... While it may share the PIE with stand, it is Latin while stand is Germanic ... and this likely led to muddling the use of the words and meanings.

instance - mid-14c., "urgency" from O.Fr. instance "eagerness, anxiety, solicitation" from L. instantia "presence, earnestness, urgency" lit. "a standing near" from instans (see instant).

In Scholastic logic, "a fact or example" (early 15c.), from M.L. instantia, used to translate Gk. enstasis. This led to use in phrase for instance "as an example" (1650s), and the noun phrase to give (someone) a for instance (1959, Amer.Eng.).

Whereas stand - O.E. standan from P.Gmc. *sta-n-d- (cf. O.N. standa, O.S., Goth. standan, O.H.G. stantan, Swed. stå, Du. staan, Ger. stehen), from PIE base *sta- "to stand" (L. stare "stand").

Things up in the air:

Which word to use for example:
bisen (bysen), verb bisenian > ME bisne (example, parable), verb bisenen - to give an example, MD; bisend, pp. likened, signified

Could be muddled with: Bi-sen, v. to look, to behold, consider, to arrange, appoint, to manage, MD, S; besie, S; biseo, S2; bisið, pr. s., S; bise, imp., W; byse, S2; biseh, pt. s., S; bisay, S2; beseyn, pp. arranged; beseyne, decked; besene, equipped, S3; biseye, as in phr. yuel biseye, ill to look at, C2, richely biseye, splendid in appearance, C2.—AS. biséon, to look about.

Or

bispell also bigspell (example, proverb) bispellboc (big-) - Book of Proverbs > ME bi-spel - parable tho it is listed from OE bigspell (parable) > make it nowadays byspel (like German Beispiel) ... I like this one because of that even tho bisen seems to be a better fit.

Or

forebysen (model, example, pattern) - German Vorbild? Which would make bisen/bysen like Bild.

I lean to byspel for example and bisen for mode, pattern, form with forebysen being a modal.

mark = trait? Maybe ... But a "marked man" is usually a condemned or targeted man.

Back to thirl ... I like thurl because that's the way I say it and there is no muddling with thrill (same root). Yes, nostril is a kenning of nose+thirl with the i and r swapping places. It's a wonder that someone didn't swap it with a Latinate!

@Ængelfolc ... communications in German is Kommunikation and maybe Nachrichtenwesen. I know that Nachrichten is news ... wesen is the essence or being or nature. Maybe it is because of the inflow of English but communications with a 'k' seems to be common thru-out Scandinavia as well aside from Iceland.

The index finger is also known as the forefinger ... pinky is from Dutch.

I have a whole list of OE grammar words. Not many of them make any more sense than the Latinates ... maybe because many (not all) came in from Latin pre-1066.

For singular - anfald (onefold) is good. I'd keep the OE anfald for grammar maybe even for "single" ... She is an anfald woman ... lol ... you can see where "an" came from. (OE, in the beginning, didn't have articles). Make it a kenning ... anfaldwoman and anfaldman (bachelor). So now my bachelor's pad is an "anfaldmanpad" LOL ... Getting to be like German and stringing the words together!

Plural ... manigfeald (manyfold to make it unlike manifold?) ...

For the shortenings ... 'an' for anfeld and 'mn' for manyfold or 'mg' from manigfeald? Or take the first and last staff ... 'ad' for anfeld (might be muddled with 'ad' from Latin) and 'md' for manyfold.

The snag with "commonspeak" is that "common" is a Latinate.

OE has several words for common but none truthfully lived thru aside from "churl" whose meaning has changed and not for the good. In OE, churlfolk (georlfolc) meant the 'common people, the public'.

Gemene (gemæne) lived thru to ME as i-mene which would likely be amen(e) (i-mid became amid and i-mong become among). Gemana was society.

There was 'mana' - community (gemana was society); to-manan - in common which lived thru to ME as 'mone' and 'y-mone' - share, companion, company. However, anything with "man" or "men" in it becomes fodder for "political correctness".

Samodeard and samodwist both had a meaning of 'common existence'.

So I come full-ring ... to samodspeak ... samodsprak ... samodspreck.

@Jayles ... Does that mean that I can keep rendezvous as long as I pronounce the final 's'? LOL ... Like Illinoizzzz.

If you want your head to spin ... just go to wordbook websites and see the "word of the day". You get stuff like "garçonnière" which means "a bachelor pad" I submitted to wikitionary "lightfast" as a WOTD. It's in the wordbook and means "resistant to fading".

I can't think a bysel where I would brook hap (v) instead of happen. I'm trying to think of when I would use hap instead of luck. I'm pretty tired right now so I'm just not getting anything.

I have found some interesting words the past few days while digging around.

If you need a word for pierce that is still in the wordbook, try "thirl", I like the ME spelling of thurl ... þurl better, but thirl is still in the wordbook. Frith still in the M-W wordbook to not in the meaning of peace. Many words are still there ... They just need to be brooked and brought back to life.

That should be "or is" or "and or".